Photos: @peterdog15/Twitter
The Boring Company continues to expand its site in Bastrop, Texas. The Prufrock-2 is already connected to electricity and the mount for it is on the ground.
In early August, tunnel drilling equipment and a new small quarry were found at The Boring Company site near Austin, Texas. This followed the news that the company had offered Austin to build an underground tunnel between the city center and the airport. On August 21, The Boring Co. shared the great news on Twitter, "Prufrock-2 is alive in Texas." This marked the first official start of work on the site.
Prufrock-2 is alive in Texas pic.twitter.com/Hj5H03Fd36
— The Boring Company (@boringcompany) August 21, 2021
In early September, it was noticed that near a small quarry, an installation appeared that would eventually serve as anchorage and support for the start of operations of Prufrock-2. Photos taken late last week show activity continues. The installation near the quarry has been painted, which could mean that it will soon be used. In parallel with this, it was noticed that Prufrock-2 is connected to electricity.
Looks like @boringcompany company in beautiful Texas has painted some items, everything looking fresh for the camera! Also took a shot of the electrical components that will provide power to Prufrock - 2
— Gail-Texas (@gailalfa1) September 20, 2021
⚫️ 📷 @peterdog15 pic.twitter.com/Y2e3H9kY3w
The Austin underground tunnel was first mentioned in September 2020. Musk responded to one of the tweets in which he was asked to build a tunnel under Giga Texas. Just two months later, The Boring Co. posted a job advertisement in Austin, with a playful appeal: "Rumor has it that ‘Austin Chalk’ is geologically one of best soils for tunneling. Want to find out? Austin jobs now available." In December, the company acquired 40,000 square feet of industrial land not far away from Giga Texas, in Pflugerville. In May 2021, The Boring Co. purchased 73 acres of land in northwest Bastrop through Gapped Bass LLC.
In early August, Tesla and The Boring Co.'s CEO Elon Musk reportedly met with representatives from the city of Austin. The purpose of this meeting was to discuss a proposal on the possible construction of an underground transport tunnel. According to the plan, the tunnel would connect Tesla's Giga Texas factory, the airport, and downtown Austin. The City Development Services Department said the company presented the proposed tunnel to them and tried to get a good understanding of the permitting requirements.
On a new site at Bastrop, The Boring Co. most likely is going to dig a test tunnel using a new drilling machine, the Prufrock-2, which is powered by electricity. The particular advantage of the new machine is that it launches directly from the surface, mines underground, and re-emerges upon completion. This method of work allows for the start of work on the tunnel within 48 hours, to avoid having to dig a deep pit as as lowering and retrieving equipment at the end of the work, and resolves a host of other problems associated with this method of drilling. In addition, the Prufrock-2 is designed to run tunnels at over one mile per week, which is six times faster than the previous generation—Godot +.
© 2021, Eva Fox | Tesmanian. All rights reserved.
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Article edited by @SmokeyShorts, you can follow him on Twitter
About the Author
Eva Fox
Eva Fox joined Tesmanian in 2019 to cover breaking news as an automotive journalist. The main topics that she covers are clean energy and electric vehicles. As a journalist, Eva is specialized in Tesla and topics related to the work and development of the company.
