Boring Co. Lands Contract for Chicago Underground Bullet Train

Elon Musk, the CEO of such companies as Solar City, Tesla Motors, and SpaceX, has recently been expanding his reach from outer space and green electricity to various other industries. One of his other companies, Boring Co., has become known for two main things: flamethrowers and high-speed tunnel travel. Musk's "Temperature Enhancement Device" (the name given to the flamethrower to avoid shipping regulations) has amassed huge popularity and thousands of the devices have already gone out to customers around the world. However, Boring Co.'s most exciting future development is a high-speed underground bullet train between Los Angeles and San Francisco. If the project ever reaches fruition, it could drastically improve the housing markets throughout the state. According to a Bloomberg article, Boring Co. just won a bid to develop a similar bullet train in Chicago, which could be a huge stepping stone for the future of Boring Co.

In working out the plans for this high-speed train, Musk has come to some sobering realizations. Where his original plan featured speeds of over 700 mph, designed for connecting cities that are a few hundred miles apart. After more research, it was concluded that the underground train from downtown Chicago to O'Hare International Airport will travel at speeds of roughly 150 mph, still much faster than any other options, but not nearly as fast as Musk had dreamed. Even after the disappointing results, Musk still seems certain that his planned Hyperloop system will one day reach his high-speed goals, but for longer trips, such as Chicago to New York.

Even though Musk won't be able to get the Hyperloop design he wants, this Chicago project will still be great practice for the 18-month-old Boring Co. Many investors believe strongly in Musk's ability to get things done, but as the company has very little construction experience, it is good that they have the opportunities to figure out how to meet their promises of faster, cheaper, and less disruptive tunnel creation when compared to current technological options. So far, Boring Co.'s tech has only been tested in Hawthorne, but if it shows promising results in Chicago, that could be the kickstart the company needs to get its other projects in LA, New York, and Washington DC fully funded and moving forward.

Boring Co. won the Chicago bid partly because of the CEO's notoriety, but also because its bid was so much lower than all other competitor offers. In fact, because this is sort of a practice run for Boring Co., and a way to get more publicity, Musk's bid was to do the entire project for free. He predicts that it will cost somewhere around $1 billion, but is confident that he will have no problems in securing the necessary funding. Some Chicago officials have welcomed Musk with open arms, excited for the upcoming project, while others have loudly criticized the project as a bold political ploy by the current Chicago mayor. It may take a little time until the project officially gets underway, as the specifications and details of the project still need to be negotiated, but based on Musk's previous projects, the Chicago transportation arena has an exciting future.

***************************************************************************************************
Find out more about us at www.sepulvedaescrow.net. Any Questions? Contact our Escrow Expert! Sepulveda Escrow Corporation (818) 838-1831. Follow our company on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google+.

**************************************************************************************************

Washington D.C. Public Transit System Purchases Fleet of 14 Proterra Electric Buses

Technological innovations in this day and age, especially those in the realm of transportation, have been focusing more and more on green energy. From Tesla's cars to Nikola Corp's trucks, many companies are trying to steadily phase out the necessity of fossil fuels for long-distance travel. The problem with that goal is that, at the moment, green energy sources and vehicles that utilize those types of energy tend to be more expensive. To that end, the companies that focus on electric vehicles usually need some sort of governmental relationship to get off the ground. With Tesla, customers were able to get government rebates/subsidies after purchasing cars like Tesla's Model 3. According to Russ Mitchell's L.A. Times article, Proterra (a manufacturer of electric buses) sold 14 of its vehicles to the Washington, D.C., Circulator transit system earlier this month.

The complete cost of those buses was not reported, but Proterra's buses are known to cost somewhere between $700,000 and $900,000 each, so it's likely that this purchase cost D.C. quite a bit. On the one hand, spending millions of dollars on electric buses may seem exorbitant, but to another perspective, the fleet of buses serves to show millions of diplomats and tourists from around the world that the United States is working on developing technology with lower environmental impacts and better user experience. Though nearly a million dollars per bus is a lot of money, Washington D.C. gets tens of thousands of tourists each day who use the bus system to visit the various landmarks and museums.

Although Proterra is based out of Northern California, the company has a factory on each coast: one in the City of Industry, California, and the other in Greenville, South Carolina. The South Carolina plant has a perfect location to be accessible to the nation's capital, while the California plant is right in the center of all kinds of innovation going on in the state. The East Coast side of the business puts it in the view of politicians and lobbyists who make the decisions regarding public transportation around the country, and the West Coast side of the business has been able to draw from engineers and manufacturers already in the area for work in the aerospace industry.

Proterra doesn't have a monopoly on electric buses, though. California's plethora of skilled workers has made the Los Angeles area a hub for the development of electric buses and other such vehicles. Another company, called BYD, which is based out of China, has a factory in Lancaster. According to their own numbers, BYD has sold at least 722 buses, while Proterra has sold over 546. For such a pricey commodity, both companies seem to be doing relatively well in an industry that is fairly new. Even some universities are switching their bus systems to electric ones. There's no way to tell for sure, but it seems like the trend of electric buses could really take off throughout the nation in the near future.

***************************************************************************************************
Find out more about us at www.sepulvedaescrow.net. Any Questions? Contact our Escrow Expert! Sepulveda Escrow Corporation (818) 838-1831. Follow our company on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google+.

**************************************************************************************************