Boring Co's tunnel machines are just customized versions of existing machines. At best they are slightly faster than they base machines, and only in specific soil conditions.
However, as demonstrated by the Hawthorn and Vegas tunnels, the Boring Co machines are, in practice/in the real world, no faster than the non-customized machines, while at the same time yielding significantly lower quality tunnels (referring to the concrete shell built to protect the excavated portion of the tunnel).
And here's the crazy thing: if Elon had actually done his research, he would have known that the "automated digger" Boring Co plans to build already exists. They're just really expensive, because digging machines are built to-spec for each project based on soil conditions. These existing machines can be powered by multiple sources, though generally they aren't electrified due to the demands on the local power grid. In a nutshell, you'd have to build a dedicated substation to handle the electricity draw; the only reason Boring Co's tunnel machines don't is because they dig small utility-sized tunnels rather than large transit-sized tunnels.
> Prufrock is a next generation Tunnel Boring Machine designed to construct mega-infrastructure projects in a matter of weeks instead of years, and at a fraction of the cost. The current iteration of Prufrock, called Prufrock-2, is designed to mine at up to 1 mile/week, meaning a tunnel the length of the Las Vegas strip (approximately 4 miles) can be completed in a month. Prufrock-3 is designed to be even faster, with the medium term goal of 1/10 human walking speed, or 7 miles/day.
https://www.boringcompany.com/seriescround
Even if Boring Co actually builds such machines (and given Elon's history of grandious unmet claims that's very unlikely), no. Utility-size TBMs on the market can already bore faster than the P2 hypothetically would.
The delay in tunnel boring isn't the TBM machines; it's in the other stuff like the undisclosed power lines and other utilities that the TBM will run into while boring and which must be painstakingly rerouted, or the things above the tunnel that must be accounted for. For example, LA's "regional connector" transit project has been delayed for almost 5 years because they ran into hundreds of undisclosed utility lines and pipes while digging and had to spend years rerouting those utilities before they could continue digging. Boston's Big Dig was delayed because they had to build underground bridges while tunneling to support the weight of ongoing activities above the dig, like existing rail, highways, and subways.
Note that both of the examples above are transit-size tunnels, but the issues LA Metro ran into would still apply to Boring Co's much smaller tunnels.
Really, the biggest problem with Boring Co's tunnels is that they're basically useless boondoggles: as the Vegas tunnel demonstrates, they simply don't have the capacity to handle meaningful amounts of traffic.
Boring Co's tunnel machines are just customized versions of existing machines. At best they are slightly faster than they base machines, and only in specific soil conditions.
However, as demonstrated by the Hawthorn and Vegas tunnels, the Boring Co machines are, in practice/in the real world, no faster than the non-customized machines, while at the same time yielding significantly lower quality tunnels (referring to the concrete shell built to protect the excavated portion of the tunnel).
And here's the crazy thing: if Elon had actually done his research, he would have known that the "automated digger" Boring Co plans to build already exists. They're just really expensive, because digging machines are built to-spec for each project based on soil conditions. These existing machines can be powered by multiple sources, though generally they aren't electrified due to the demands on the local power grid. In a nutshell, you'd have to build a dedicated substation to handle the electricity draw; the only reason Boring Co's tunnel machines don't is because they dig small utility-sized tunnels rather than large transit-sized tunnels.