Hyperloop One announced the opening of Hyperloop One Metalworks, the first Hyperloop manufacturing plant in the world. Hyperloop One Metalworks, a 105,000 square foot tooling and fabrication plant in North Las Vegas, Nevada, which will house Hyperloop One engineers, machinists and welders who will build and test many of the components going into DevLoop, the full-system Hyperloop prototype, which will be tested in early 2017. The site will also house a new Transponics test lab, which will continue to innovate on the propulsion system that launches a Hyperloop vehicle to high speeds.
“Hyperloop One Metalworks is the first Hyperloop manufacturing plant in the world,” said Josh Giegel, co-founder and president of engineering. “The ability to have a world-class machine shop in-house gives us an advantage to build rapidly and develop the Hyperloop in real-time.”
Hyperloop One Metalworks will include motor (stator) testing and will house many of the key equipment and research areas, including a state-of-the-art metrology room for super accurate measurements of many of the key materials and subcomponents of the full Hyperloop system. There will be two Flow Waterjet steel cutters, which can cut steel using water at pressures of 95,000 PSI and can cut up to 36 meters per minute with an accuracy of up to one-thousandth of an inch. In addition, some of the parts that will be produced at Hyperloop One Metalworks in the next few months include the joints between the Hyperloop tube and its supporting columns and the cradles that hold and protect the tubes prior to their installation.
“The Hyperloop One Metalworks tooling and fabrication plant provides Hyperloop One with an incredible facility that will allow us to build and develop DevLoop by early 2017,” said Rob Lloyd, CEO of Hyperloop One.
“Our 170 employees are laser-focused on making Hyperloop the next mode of transportation, and the opening of Hyperloop One Metalworks is the next large step towards that goal.”
The construction of Hyperloop One Metalworks was made possible by great relationships and strong participation between the company and the Nevada government. State and local officials have been instrumental in the construction and development of not only the test site, but also the new tooling and fabrication plant. The Nevada government saw the potential of Hyperloop as the next mode of transportation as well as its ability to create high-skilled jobs for North Las Vegas and the Southern Nevada region.
“We are thrilled that Hyperloop One — the future of transportation — already is expanding its manufacturing footprint in North Las Vegas and bringing highly-skilled jobs to other parts of our community,” North Las Vegas Mayor John Lee said. “Every corner of North Las Vegas is booming with development as we succeed in transforming our turnaround town into a hotbed for innovative high tech companies like Hyperloop One."
