Mitsubishi Electric to Break Barriers with Elevators

Elevators are the typical 

mode of transportation 

inside buildings

Image: LuckyLuke / pixabay.com

Mitsubishi Electric will install record breaking elevators in the Shanghai Tower, a building set to be the tallest in China once completed in 2014. With the installation of 106 elevators in the tower, they aim to break two world records - the first one, as the fastest by travelling at 59 feet per second, and the 2nd, as the longest-travelling elevator by covering a distance of 578.5 meters. They will incorporate new technologies such as stronger cables, ceramic brakes and regenerative braking into these set of elevators.


Elevators typically use 3-5 % of the electricity in buildings, with them numbering more than 2 million in Italy, China and US alone, there is a growing concern on developing more energy efficient lifts without compromising security, safety and comfort. The energy recovery systems initially developed for automobiles will somehow help in efficient energy consumption. Hopefully, even KERS, the one used by F1 cars, will be looked into in engineering modern elevators.