What are the vertical speed limits of elevator travel, in super tall skyscrapers — and beyond to outer space?
The World's Fastest Elevator was designed and made by Hitachi in Japan in 2019 — 1260 meters per minute (47 mph) up the Guangzhou CTF Finance Centre, 95 floors in 43 seconds! The title of World's Fastest Elevator has changed just 8 times in the last 100 years starting with the Empire State Building in 1931. Since 1978, Japanese manufacturers have maintained the fastest title. But how did they do it? What are the limits of vertical travel? Can they keep the record?
I visited Hitachi's Mito Plant to take with Takashi Abe, Developmental Supervisor of the world's fastest elevator. The challenge to develop, manufacture and install it was a monumental task.

Elevator Speed World Records:
1931 - Empire State Building [New York City]
1933 - RCA Building (30 Rock) [New York City]
1970 - John Hancock Center [Chicago]
1978 - Sunshine 60 [Tokyo]
1993 - Yokohama Landmark Tower
2004 - Taipei 101
2017 - Shanghai Tower
2019 - Guangzhou CTF FInance Center

★ Special thanks to Hitachi Building Systems, Shibuya SKY, and Ushiku Daibutsu for collaborating with me to make this happen.
🔗 Hitachi Building Systems www.hitachi.com/businesses/elevator/
📍 Shibuya SKY maps.app.goo.gl/F6YGvxGcgBzaY11R8
📍 Ushiku Daibutsu (Ibaraki Pref.) maps.app.goo.gl/ytxq2fWmcfwAU86T8
★ Thank you to Obayashi Corporation for permission to share their concept video in the Space Elevator 🛗 🚀 🌕
🔗 www.obayashi.co.jp/en/news/detail/the_space_elevat…

Data Correction:
▶︎ 08:05 the elevator speed for the Empire State Building is 366 m/min and RCA Building 427 m/min. The MPH speed is correct. It reads 540 m/min which is an editing mistake. The speeds is listed at the end of the video correctly at ▶︎ 14:09 with all the world record holders. I'm sorry for the error.

00:00 Start
00:43 World’s Fastest Elevators
01:44 Hitachi Factory & Test Center
02:35 Elevator Altitude Pressue & Ear Blockage
03:45 FASTEST Elevator Design
04:13 Cable / Rope Challenge 🛗
04:57 Space Elevator in 2050
05:40 Fastest Elevator Going Down
06:29 History of Elevator Speed Developmet
09:38 World’s Tallest Building, Jeddah Tower
09:54 Bullet Train Speed Record 🚅💨
10:30 Ushiku Daibutsu Statue Elevator
11:04 Tokyo City Skyscrapers Increasing 🏙️
11:27 Elevator Earthquake Safety
13:20 Digital Elevator Design (Shibuya Sky)
14:09 List of World Speed Record