Evacuated Tube Transport Technologies (ET3) is a company based out of Colorado that is dedicated to the promotion of “Space Travel on Earth,” a network of sealed tubes that could propel people and commodities throughout the world safely, sustainably, efficiently and extremely quickly. The ultimate vision of the company is a global system that would carry 90 percent of the goods and passengers transported greater than a 30 mile distance.
This network would be designed with automated, airtight capsules that are accelerated by linear electric motors. These motors would then merge into the flow of capsules where they would coast, using little if any additional power. The materials needed to build the tubes are significantly cheaper than those used to build highways or high speed rails, and can significantly exceed the capacity and speed of modern transportation technologies. Because this electric tube transportation is scaled through velocity and distance, the network could provide 50 times more transportation per kWh than electric cars or trains, and would operate at 400mph domestic and 4000mph international at less than a tenth the cost. Since electric tube transportation is automated, and the travel path is isolated, risk of human error, mechanical failure, weather impacts, and errant vehicles are mostly eliminated. This technology could reduce global dependence on oil, enhance the global economic market by allowing workers to easily commute between countries to areas where their skills have a comparative advantage, and green the planet by reducing or eliminating pollution emissions. This unusual solution to the global transportation tradeoff between speed, safety and economic benefits could become the way of the future.
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