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SpaceX’s Hyperloop competitors are preparing to set top speed records

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The 2018 Hyperloop Pod Competition is set to be held this Sunday, July 22, 2018, at SpaceX’s campus in Hawthorne, CA. Participants for this Sunday’s event, which are comprised of roughly 600 students from 40 countries, will be aiming for one target alone — setting top speed records in SpaceX’s 0.8-mile test track.  

As a teaser for this weekend’s event, Elon Musk recently shared images of some competitors already making preparations for the upcoming competition. Considering the theme of this year’s event, all 20 teams (comprised of 18 main competition teams and 2 levitation sub-competition groups) will be attempting to beat the top speed record currently held by Virgin Hyperloop One on the SpaceX test track. Last December 2017, Virgin Hyperloop One’s pod was able to reach a speed of 240 mph, beating out the record set by a Tesla-branded pusher pod that was able to hit 220 mph before it started heating up.

Participants for SpaceX’s 2018 Hyperloop Pod Competition prepare for the event. [Credit: Hyperloop/Twitter]

Among the student teams that would be participating this year, one group to watch would be WARR Hyperloop, a team from the Technical University of Munich that won the fastest pod award last year. The team was able to accomplish last year’s feat by designing a lightweight pod propelled by a 50 kW electric motor that runs on polyurethane wheels. The pod, which only weighed 190 pounds, was able to hit 202 mph, blowing away the speed records of its two biggest competitors — Paradigm Hyperloop and SwissLoop.

WARR Hyperloop’s team for this Sunday’s competition is comprised of 45 members from 16 different countries. In order to keep its top speed crown this year, Team WARR has created a new pod that is specifically designed to beat its old speed records and possibly even surpass the figure set by Virgin Hyperloop One. In a press release last month, the team from the Technical University of Munich stated that they are hoping their new pod could hit speeds of 372 mph (600 kph).

Another team that would be returning this year would be Delft Hyperloop from the Delft University of Technology. Just like Team WARR, Team Delft is also returning to the event as a champion, having won the overall top prize at SpaceX’s first event in January 2017. According to team leader Edouard Schneiders, Delft’s pod this year has a strong power-to-weight ratio, which would likely enable it to beat not only its competitors, but Virgin Hyperloop One’s 240 mph record as well.

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Hyperloop technology has progressed over the years since Elon Musk first mentioned the idea of a “fifth mode of transportation” back in 2012. Since then, the idea has been picked up by companies in several countries, most notable of which is Virgin Hyperloop One’s project in Dubai, which is expected to debut as early as 2020. Earlier this year, Virgin Hyperloop One unveiled a 1:1 model of its transport pod, which features futuristic design elements and plush amenities. 

Simon is an experienced automotive reporter with a passion for electric cars and clean energy. Fascinated by the world envisioned by Elon Musk, he hopes to make it to Mars (at least as a tourist) someday. For stories or tips--or even to just say a simple hello--send a message to his email, simon@teslarati.com or his handle on X, @ResidentSponge.

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Tesla Model Y L gets suspension complaints in over odd issue China

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Credit: @TeslaNewswire/X

The Tesla Model Y L is arguably the most hyped trim of the all-electric crossover, other than the Performance configuration that comes with white-knuckle speed and sports car-level handling.

However, it is not all perfect. Tesla owners in China who took delivery of the Model Y L, denoted with an L to highlight its longer wheelbase, are experiencing what they are referring to as “collapsing” of the rear wheels, as suspension issues appear to be an issue with some of the builds.

The gap between the wheel arch and tire has narrowed to the point that “not even a single finger” could fit, according to a report from Car News China. The failures are not tied to a specific mileage, as one owner said that after just 9,000 kilometers (5,600 miles), they noticed the suspension issue when their car was fully loaded.

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Another one had the issue at 30,000 kilometers (18,640 miles) and noticed that the wheel gap shrank to two fingers, so not as drastic as the person who reported a similar issue at 9,000 km.

Tesla Model Y L is gaining momentum in China’s premium segment

Along with the visual recognition of the issue, others are saying the sagging is causing abnormal wear on the inside of the tires. Extra weight and instant torque already provide additional stress on the tires in electric vehicles during normal operation, so it is no surprise that this is another complaint.

There has been no recall issued by Tesla, and the company has not yet publicly acknowledged the issue.

Some are suggesting that owners use a “finger test” to self-diagnose whether there is an issue with the suspension. There should be four fingers between the tire and the wheel well; anything less than that starts to get dicey.

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Tesla Cybercab event gains steam ahead of massive launch

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Credit: TechOperator | X

Tesla is starting to truly tease and hype its groundbreaking Cybercab event, which takes place tomorrow in Austin, Texas. It will be the first time members of the public will be able to ride in a Cybercab, a vehicle without any manual controls, on public roads.

Tesla has been dropping some hype on X over the past several days, but this morning, the excitement has truly started to build up for the event. Although Cybercab has been unveiled before, this is truly Tesla’s announcement that it is ready to start offering autonomous rides for public passengers in its new ride-hailing-geared vehicle for the first time.

The hype has started with a variety of different social media posts that are a true indication that Tesla is preparing for something big. Teasing so much of the potential of Cybercab, including its ability to truly revolutionize how people hail rides for local travel, is what the big idea for the event entails. The time that many Tesla owners, fans, and investors have been waiting for is potentially here:

The event has remained slim on details. Even invitees are still awaiting true details about what the event will entail, where they’ll go, and what is in store for the evening. This is pretty typical for an event run by Tesla; they keep things under wraps for the most part until the very last minute.

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However, there is no secret about what the real intention of Tesla is for this event: it is going to be a huge reveal party for a vehicle that has no steering wheel and no pedals. It is a truly massive step for the company moving forward.

Speculation persists as to whether this is going to be an event that simply announces that rides will begin with the Cybercab, or it will be something more substantial. Tesla has said in the past that they plan to sell the Cybercab to the general public in what could become a great way to earn passive income by adding it to a more global fleet of Robotaxi-geared vehicles.

Tomorrow, the show begins in Austin, and the Cybercab goes live at some capacity; we just don’t know exactly how quite yet.

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SpaceX tells the FCC that Starship Flight 14 is going to orbit

SpaceX filed with the FCC for Starship Flight 14, its first true orbital launch attempt.

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SpaceX has asked the Federal Communications Commission for permission to fly Starlink terminals during Starship’s fourteenth flight test, and the filing lays out a genuine trip to orbit, something the program has never attempted.

Every Starship flight so far, including Flight 13’s successful splashdown in the Indian Ocean on July 24, has flown a suborbital arc that ends with the ship reentering the atmosphere within the same hour it launches. The FCC paperwork describes a mission profile built around an actual orbital insertion instead.

The payload is the other half of the story. Flight 13 carried 20 production Starlink V3 satellites, but because that mission never reached orbit, the satellites reentered along with the ship rather than joining the constellation, something Teslarati covered in detail after SpaceX released footage shot from one of those satellites as it drifted away from Starship in space. Flight 14 is designed to close that gap. If the orbital insertion holds, the roughly 20 V3 satellites onboard would separate into an operational orbit and could eventually go into service, each one rated for about 1 terabit per second of downlink capacity by SpaceX’s own account.

SpaceX announces new Starbase for ‘thousands of Starship launches annually’

Elon Musk first flagged the orbital attempt during SpaceX’s August 4 earnings call, the company’s first as a public entity following its June IPO under the ticker SPCX. He also floated catching the ship with the Starbase tower on the same flight, an idea he walked back on August 20, saying the catch attempt would more likely come “in a few months,” as Teslarati reported at the time. Flight 14 will instead target a splashdown for the ship in the Indian Ocean, the same recovery method used since Flight 12.

Hardware has been catching up to the ambition. Booster 21 completed a full 33-engine static fire on August 28, and Ship 41 finished its own six-engine test the week before. An airspace briefing circulated to pilots on August 20 listed September 15 as the target date, later than the end of August window Musk mentioned on the earnings call, though SpaceX has not confirmed a launch date publicly and Starship schedules routinely slip while hardware and FAA paperwork line up.

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The FCC filing itself does not guarantee a launch date. It covers communications authority, and not flight readiness, considering SpaceX still needs Ship 41 fully stacked and cleared by the FAA before Flight 14 can fly. But the filing is a real marker of intent and it puts a specific regulatory process behind what had so far only been Musk’s word on the earnings call.

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