A skyscraper in the city of Guangzhou in Southern China will soon be the recipient of what is said to be the fastest lift in the world, constructed by Hitachi and predicted to be able to reach speeds of up to 45mph (72km/h). Visitors to the Guangzhou CTF Financial Centre, which is currently under construction and is scheduled to be completed in 2016, will be able to zoom up 95 floors in just 43 seconds.
The current record holder for the fastest lift in the world is the Taipei 101 building situated in Taiwan which reaches speeds of around 60.6km/h. Hitachi promises that their lift will not only be a comfortable ride, but will prevent ear blockages during the experience using technology which will alter the air pressure inside the car artificially.
The lift shaft itself will be an astonishing 1443ft high, and Hitachi even built a tower that was just short of 700ft to test out their new system, in particular the equipment called the “governor” which applies the brakes in the case of excessive speeds.
Only two of the 95 lifts inside the building will operate at the highest speed, but the others are not necessarily standard lifts, as there will be 28 “double-decker” lifts installed too. Though the building itself will have 111 floors in total, the ultra-fast lifts will only serve the 1st to 95th floors.