Interactive graphic: World's fastest elevators
The race to build ever taller skyscrapers has sparked a battle among lift manufacturers to develop new-age elevators.
High-speed lifts in China's 632-metre-tall Shanghai Tower will travel at 18 metres per second.
Since 2004, Toshiba's lifts in the Taipei 101 tower in Taiwan has held the title of the world's fastest elevator, zooming passengers up 382 metres to the 89th floor in only 37 seconds, at speeds of 16.8 metres per second.
Rival Japanese lift maker Mitsubishi is poised to steal Toshiba's crown in 2015, with lifts in China's 121-storey Shanghai Tower that travel at 18 metres per second.
A year later, Hitachi is aiming to set a record with lifts in the Guangzhou CTF Finance Centre that climb at a rate of 20 metres per second – twice as fast as the elevators of the Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest tower, and nearly three times the speed you can travel up the Empire State Building.
