
Ars takes a first tour of the length of the Boring Company's test tunnel - Reedx
https://arstechnica.com/cars/2018/12/ars-takes-a-first-tour-of-the-length-of-the-boring-companys-test-tunnel/
======
jcranmer
Can we get a journalist to actually call out Musk on his "up to $1 billion a
mile" claim for tunnels? That price point is _extremely_ misleading: it's
taking the cost of a subway extension and dividing it by its length. This
means that it's first twice as high as you'd expect (a subway consists of two
pair of tunnels, after all). But it also includes lots of non-tunneling costs:
you have to take into account the costs of station platforms, mezzanines, and
access points, the tunneling accoutrements (such as rails, power, emergency
lighting, drainage systems, and ventilation), capital costs for new subway
cars for the expansion, and new traction power substations to power stuff
along the line.

The actual costs for subway tunnels is about $50-80 million per mile, and even
horribly cost-inflated projects such as NYC's Second Avenue Subway (which I
presume is the project cited as having a $1 billion/mile cost) comes out to
$200-somethingish million per mile of tunnel. And much of that cost is
probably union featherbedding.

------
Reedx
Why did they drop the electric skate concept in favor of requiring cars to
have tracking wheels?

That's not nearly as elegant of a solution, so there must be a good reason for
the change. With the skate they were even going to allow non-EVs to use the
tunnels.

From their FAQ [1] "Every mile the skate transports a gas-burning vehicle
becomes a zero-emission mile."

1\. [https://www.boringcompany.com/faq/#block-
yui_3_17_2_3_151205...](https://www.boringcompany.com/faq/#block-
yui_3_17_2_3_1512057786758_64785)

~~~
jcranmer
The first thing that comes to mind is that the skate wasn't ready in time for
the press demo. But... that doesn't explain why dropping it altogether.

Looking at the sizes in those pictures, it's possible that they couldn't fit a
skate in. The skate would have to have electric motors squeezed in somewhere,
and it looks like that 12' inner diameter has to squeeze in the car, the
skate, the ventilation system, and the drainage system--and the gutter beneath
already looks rather small for drainage. It also doesn't look like there's
much room for a pedestrian emergency exit path; you'd have to walk on the
wheel guideway path as is.

