Skip to main content

An elevator in your garage? Boring Company gets OK to test Loop Lift from tunnel

Elon Musk’s Boring Company has received permission from the Hawthorne (California) City Council to build a prototype for a lift designed to connect an above-ground garage to an underground tunnel, The Mercury News reported.

The Loop Lift prototype will connect from a private residence owned by the company to an existing one-mile Hyperloop tunnel near Musk’s SpaceX company.

Image used with permission by copyright holder

The tunnel and lift concepts are intended to reduce future traffic, but concerns about vehicle congestion led the Hawthorne City Council to add conditions to its approval for the prototype project. To secure the go-ahead to build the vehicle elevator, the Boring Company agreed to keep everything literally on the “down-low.”

Recommended Videos

Vehicles involved in testing the Loop Lift will not enter or exit the garage from the street, but via the elevator connected to the tunnel. The Hyperloop entrance is on the SpaceX campus.

The test tunnel isn’t destined to connect to Hawthorne’s transportation system. The Boring Company uses the underground structure for research and development. When the Loop Lift is functional, it will also serve as a demonstration site.

The Boring Company isn’t focused on building an elevator in every garage, according to the company’s project description: “The purpose is to demonstrate that a lift can be built in very small footprints and within existing buildings, whether they are houses, office buildings, or retail parking lots.  Looking forward, one could have a lift in the basement of every office building, allowing extremely convenient commutes.”

Inspired by Los Angeles traffic congestion, which the company describes as “soul-destroying,” Musk’s enterprise suggests a network of underground tunnels as the best solution.

Adding lanes to surface roadways is a limited response to crowded highways. In densely populated areas, it doesn’t take long to encroach on private property. This starts a long, expensive process that includes moving or demolishing houses and other buildings.

Flying cars or tunnels enable 3D solutions to the demand for more space for vehicles, according to the Boring Company, which favors underground solutions.

“Unlike flying cars, tunnels are weatherproof, out of sight, and won’t fall on your head. A large network of tunnels many levels deep would fix congestion in any city, no matter how large it grew (just keep adding levels),” the company states.

With complementary goals of cutting tunnel costs and construction time, each by a factor of 10 or more, the Boring Company hopes to make its Hyperloop concept attractive and affordable for cities and potentially nationwide, especially in highly populated regions.

In pursuit of The Boring Company’s vision, company representative Grett Horton told the Hawthorne City Council: “What we want to do is show proof of concept and as quickly as possible. We are not asking to go around the public process. Yes, we do move fast. We are trying to revolutionize transportation and don’t want to get bogged down.”

Bruce Brown
Bruce Brown Contributing Editor   As a Contributing Editor to the Auto teams at Digital Trends and TheManual.com, Bruce…
Scout Traveler and Scout Terra forge a new path for EVs
Scout Traveler and Scout Terra.

Electric vehicles are inseparable from newness, whether it’s new tech, new designs, or new companies like Rivian, Lucid, and Tesla. But the Volkswagen Group’s new EV-only brand also relies heavily on the past.

Unveiled Thursday, the Scout Traveler electric SUV and Scout Terra electric pickup truck are modern interpretations of the classic International Harvester Scout. Manufactured from 1961 to 1980, the original Scout helped popularize the idea of the rugged, off-road-capable utility vehicle, setting the stage for modern SUVs.

Read more
Robotaxi aside, a $25,000 EV would be pointless, Tesla CEO says
Blue Tesla Model 3 Highland on the road

Enthusiasts expecting to one day put their hands on the steering wheel of a $25,000 Tesla EV may feel like they’ve been taken for a ride.
CEO Elon Musk has just put a serious damper on those expectations, saying that outside of the driverless Robotaxi recently unveiled by Tesla, a regular $25,000 model would be “pointless” and “silly.”
During a conference call with investors, Musk was asked to clarify whether such a model was in the works.
"Basically, having a regular $25K model is pointless,” Musk said. “It would be silly. It would be completely at odds with what we believe." Tesla, Musk continued, has “been very clear that the future is autonomous.”
On October 10, Tesla unveiled its much-awaited robotaxi, called the Cybercab, an autonomous-driving EV with no steering wheel or pedals. The company also unveiled the Robovan, a much larger autonomous vehicle expected to carry people or goods.
The automaker said the Cybercab is expected to be produced in 2026 and cost $30,000. Musk, meanwhile, said that it would be a $25,000 car without specifying if that price tag included federal tax credits.
Tesla’s ambiguity about an affordable entry-level model has been going on for years. In 2020, Musk signaled that a $25,000 Tesla would arrive within three years. It was later reported that Tesla had ditched the idea, instead favoring the development of a robotaxi.
Language within Tesla’s latest financial report still hints that new affordable Tesla models are on the way. But Musk’s latest comments are putting a floor on just how affordable these would be. So far, Tesla’s Model 3 Rear-Wheel-Drive remains the company’s cheapest model, with a base price of $38,990.
Some rival EV makers, meanwhile, are entering the affordable space more aggressively in the U.S.
General Motors has already put out its Chevy Equinox EV at a price of $27,500, including federal tax credits. Volkswagen America says it plans to release an under-$35,000 EV in the U.S. by 2027.

Read more
Stellantis’ 2027 Dodge Charger Daytona might feature solid-state battery tech
Front three quarter view of the 2024 Dodge Charger Daytona sedan.

The battle to use cheaper, more efficient, and safer EV batteries is heating up among automakers. At the heart of this battle, the development of solid-state battery technology, an alternative to highly flammable and costly lithium batteries, is garnering more and more attention.For proof, Stellantis, the world’s fourth-largest automaker, is betting on the technology for its next generation of electric vehicles. The Netherlands-based company announced that it will launch a demonstration fleet of Dodge Charger Daytona EVs that will feature solid-state battery tech made by U.S. startup Factorial.The demo fleet, expected to launch by 2026, will provide a real-world assessment of Factorial’s technology. Factorial has been partnering with Stellantis since 2021 and is also partnering with the likes of Daimler AG’s Mercedes-Benz and Hyundai.Besides Dodge, the technology would eventually be deployed on the Stellantis STLA Large multi-energy platform, which includes brands such as Jeep, Chrysler, Alfa Romeo, and Maserati.Stellantis said that the integration of solid-state battery technology will yield “improved performance, longer driving ranges, and faster charging times in the coming years.”Factorial, meanwhile, says its technology provides higher energy density, reduced weight, improved performance, and the potential for further reduction in total vehicle cost over time. Stellantis, Daimler, and Hyundai aren’t the only ones to bet on solid-state battery tech. Toyota, the largest automaker in the world, has heavily invested in the technology. It also created a coalition with Nissan and Panasonic to boost its production in Japan. So far, making solid-state batteries has remained an expensive endeavor. But steps such as the Stellantis demo fleet and production at scale by the likes of Factorial are expected to improve manufacturing processes and costs over time.Other automakers, meanwhile, are working on ways to improve lithium batteries. Volkswagen, for one, is developing its own unified battery cell in several European plants as well as one plant in Ontario, Canada.

Read more