Abstract
We are Hyperloop UPV, a student team born and raised in Valencia, Spain. Based in a small workshop at the Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV), we have been investigating and developing hyperloop technology for more than ten years, being the only active Spanish group in the world.
This year, 45 students of engineering and non-engineering backgrounds make up the team. This multidisciplinarity provides our project with a wide range of points of view and problem-solving techniques.
Now, the team has embarked altogether on its 10 month-long journey to create a scalable and fully functional pod for the European Hyperloop Week. But our mission goes further than that.
Objectives
Our identity is heavily rooted in our city, Valencia. Here, innovation and science meet with nature and art, creating an ecosystem where pioneering ideas thrive. This support for innovation backs our ambitious goal: Shaping the future.
In Hyperloop UPV we research, develop and divulge cutting-edge hyperloop technology. We seek to create scalable pods, studying the technical challenges of real-world hyperloop vehicles and taking them into account for our designs. The pursuit of scalability, however, is not only a matter of engineering development, but also of the vehicle's design and identity, which is captured in the interior design of the capsule and the aeroshell, as well as other areas such as custom team gear.
Moreover, we’re deeply motivated to share knowledge about the technology we develop. The team has participated in multiple international exhibitions, the last one being the Hyperloop Conference, which took place in the Smart City Expo World Congress at Barcelona in October 2025.
But most importantly, after the hyperloop student team community was left out without a main event to demonstrate what we developed, we cooperated with Delft Hyperloop (The Netherlands), HYPED (Scotland) and Swissloop (Switzerland) to create the European Hyperloop Week (EHW), Valencia being the first city where the competition was held.
Our end goal is to continue improving our technology while we keep making efforts to spread awareness about the potential benefits of hyperloop vehicles, both in speed of travelling between long distances and the small environmental cost that comes with it.
Methodology
We’re currently in our eleventh season. From concept to prototypes and finally to vehicles, the team has had a constant improvement over the years. Knowledge is passed down generation after generation, backed with tons of internal documents analysing technical decisions, context revolving them and improvements to be made.
Every year, the team starts off redefining itself: saying goodbye to those who finish their degrees, selecting the new leads of each subsystem and defining their goals for the season and deadlines to achieve them. Once all roles are set, the team recruits new members through an inscription process. Thus, the design phase begins.
In this part of our journey, we design and simulate all the pieces that will make up our pod, studying the integration of the reused pieces with the new ones and adjusting their characteristics to fit the rules of EHW. Simultaneously, the identity of the vehicle gets defined and key partnerships start to get discussed.
Currently, our design phase is nearly over. The aeroshell, brakes, attitudes, booster section and anchoring pieces, amongst others, have been validated by the mechanics team, and the designs have been sent to our corresponding partners. Furthermore, the hardware team has finished the design of the PCBs dedicated to the control of the vehicle, while putting the final touches on the propulsion's motherboard.
Picture of this season’s design of the HV-BMS motherboard: High Voltage Battery Management System.
During this process, we’ve also made steps towards innovation. For this season in particular, those steps are still being taken, which means that the team is still considering the viability, especially in terms of deadlines and partnerships. Therefore, we can’t dive into a lot of detail. However, we can disclose some characteristics. For instance, following the trend of the last few years, we’re developing our own pneumatic brakes.
Additionally, we can also forward that we’ve achieved to create a lighter aeroshell than the previous year while increasing our vehicle’s size. Weight plays a critical role in the functioning of the vehicle: the greater the mass, the stronger the force needed to accelerate it. That is why we’re very excited to get a cutout without compromising any other piece or major design readjustment.
Product
In order to ensure reliable connectivity in this season’s motherboards, we are interested in changing our current connectors to RS’ Molex Microfit+ connectors. Thanks to RS Student Fund Programme we will be able to enhance our hardware, therefore covering an essential need to further improve our hyperloop technology.
Next Steps and Evaluation
Looking forward to the following EHW in Veendam, we’re aiming to improve our 3rd place in the Overall System Award of the previous edition.
A key aspect to improve from last competition performance is increasing the amount of tests and validation of our technology in Valencia. For this reason, we’ve already deployed our 48 meters of track to test the functioning of last season’s pod with the new changes implemented into our software.
Meanwhile, we’re also seeing the first new parts of the vehicle arrive at the workshop and we’re reviewing the last designs, making sure the simulations pass adequately under worst-case scenarios.
Finally, aside from the competition, we aim to keep the spark of hyperloop innovation and development lit. Creating pods that are scalable and raising visibility of our project is the most important part when it comes to our investigation. We’re aware of the cost and complexity of the hyperloop infrastructure, but at the same time, we decide not to lose sight of a technology that could reduce travel distances drastically while having a minimal impact on global emissions.
Comments