High Speed Intercity Passenger Transportation

This is the traditional application that most people think of when they hear the word “Maglev”. Compared with steel wheel high-speed rail, maglev provides higher speeds (350 mph vs 200 mph) with lower capital costs and much lower operations and maintenance costs. High speed rail systems are notoriously expensive and often require significant government subsidies to remain solvent. In the United States, high speed rail systems that transport passengers only will be even more unprofitable. Luckily the M2000 system has a solution, the capital costs and operating expenses are paid for by the revenues generated from carrying freight on the same fixed infrastructure. Unlike other maglev designs or high speed rail systems, the M2000 system can carry both passenger and freight vehicles on the guideways.

• HTS required per passenger vehicle:    28,000 kA-m

Truck and Freight Transportation

Trucking is now a $700B business in the United States, larger than all other transportation businesses combined. Longhaul trucks travel an average distance of 500 miles per trip charging an average of $0.30 per ton mile. About 2/3 of trucking operating costs are solely for fuel and labor. Thus, trucking companies could see enormous increases in profitability if they could reduce fuel costs and labor hours substantially by transporting longhaul trucks on roll-on/roll-off maglev vehicles. Capturing just a fraction of the longhaul trucking business would pay for the capital costs of maglev infrastructure construction.

• HTS required per freight vehicle:    57,600 kA-m

Urban Passenger Transportation

The same M2000 design used in high speed intercity passenger transportation can be used in urban settings as well. Because M2000 vehicles can operate on both high speed beam-style guideways and low speed planar-style guideways, an M2000 vehicle can run on existing rail infrastructure that has been modified to allow simultaneous rail and maglev operations. This is called the MERRI system: Maglev Emplacement on RailRoad Infrastructure. Such flexibility allows local transit agencies to transition the existing commuter systems, gradually, to an all maglev design.

• HTS required per passenger vehicle:    28,000 kA-m

Maglev Energy Storage

M2000 technology can be used to store gigawatt-hours of energy to level loads on an overburdened electricity grid. Similar in concept to pumped hydro storage, M2000 vehicles transport mass (i.e. concrete blocks) uphill to a storage yard when electricity demand is low and prices are cheap, and then when demand peaks and electricity prices are high, those same blocks are transported back downhill to generate electricity which can be fed into the grid and sold for profit. Unlike pumped hydro, maglev energy storage can be sited at many, many locations throughout the world, with minimal environmental impact.

• HTS required per energy storage vehicle:    72,000 kA-m

Water Train

Though it may seem counterintuitive, there are many situations where it is cheaper to transport water long distances by maglev than by pipeline, especially when significant elevation changes are involved. With pipelines, extensive pumping infrastructure is needed to overcome elevation, and specialized pipes need to be constructed to withstand the pressure changes associated with elevation changes. With M2000 technology, no pumping infrastructure is required, and maglev can more efficiently recapture energy expended when moving uphill when the vehicle travels back downhill again.

• HTS required per energy storage vehicle:    144,000 kA-m