Car Elevators and How the Future Shapes
Cars and elevators. They are two of the most valuable elements of modern life. They both are not only making our life easy and indispensable assets of our world, but they are also the pioneers to eliminate the limits of physics that help us to live faster and at higher places. With the improvements in their technologies, we have the opportunity to achieve our dreams.
The number of automobiles is increasing every day and the need for parking them is becoming a great problem. Especially in cities, the need for parking spaces shapes the lifestyle. For example, most people in New York City don’t use or own a personal car because they don’t have enough place to park. So parking becomes so expensive in New York and many residents don’t even have a driving license because they don’t need it. The solution to this problem is to use existing spaces more effectively. That’s where the car elevators become a crucial factor in the solution.
Basically, a car elevator is a special elevator that transports vehicles. The objectives of the automobile elevators are:
- Park them at a garage or parking lot below or upper floors,
- Lift a vehicle to repair or check it’s under.
The second objective is completely different from the first one and it is enough to lift the car a few meters from the ground. The purpose is not to transfer the car. But the first one is mainly to use the limited space effectively and necessitates a special cabin to carry a vehicle from one place to another. Of course, a car elevator needs to be sufficient enough to carry a heavy load and transport it without any harm.
Car Elevator Types
Carrying automobiles have some challenges. The first challenge is the load. The average weight of a car ranges from 900 kilograms to 2 tons. This load is so much bigger than people. So car elevators have much more load capacity than regular elevators which necessitates more power. There are two types of car elevators according to power units:
- Hydraulic car elevators
- Electric car elevators
A hydraulic elevator can have 2,2 to 5 kW power and an electric elevator needs to have around 380V to carry vehicles. Mostly, hydraulic elevators are preferred for car elevators over electric ones because they are more effective.
The second challenge of car elevators is acceleration. Automobiles are sophisticated and have sensitive systems that can get harmed easily. So the elevators should move smoothly not to give any damage to the cars. Speed is not an important issue, so car elevators are mostly slow and unharmful.
As the number of people and cars is increasing in cities, the need for more parking spaces is also increasing. With the help of advancing technologies, there are developed new usages of car elevators. Here are some examples of new car elevators according to objectives.
Residential Car Elevators
Today, the cities are so crowded and most of the people are living in apartments that have limited areas. Especially, the areas of the buildings at the city centers were mostly shaped many many years ago when the car population was not an important distinctive issue. So today, new construction projects have limited spaces and people want to use them for residence. One important solution for parking is parking places under the buildings. And the best way to use them effectively is to build a car elevator. Car elevators save more space and increase the place to park. Normally a ramp would occupy more space just to reach parking floors but with the help of an automobile elevator, only a dimension of a car will be enough to reach those levels. So the car elevator is a key element that helps designers make more modern and beautiful building plans.
Automobile Showrooms
Automobile firms design and manufacture stylish and modern cars and try to sell them. Marketing the product is also an important issue and companies show them at beautifully designed modern showrooms in which some of them are about car elevators. Some companies have big towers that can store hundreds of newly manufactured cars. The most famous one is the Volkswagen car towers at the Wolfsburg factory. There are two towers each of them has enough space for 400 cars. Each tower has two special, robotic, and fastest car elevators servicing 180° of the tower. These kinds of showrooms are possible only with innovative car elevator systems.
Automated Parking Garages
As we mentioned before, parking space is a very big problem in the densest cities. One of the best and most innovative solutions is automated parking garages or car elevator garages. These garages are multi-story buildings that are fully automated, special systems carry the cars to empty spaces. Automated garages are becoming popular and there are already many of them all around the world. As car elevator technology improves and they can carry more loads faster, parking may not be a problem in the future.
Luxury High-rise Apartment with Car
For the rich people who want to live in a high-rise modern skyscraper and have their cars with them, there are new buildings where residents can drive their cars right into their apartments. A car elevator in the house is not a dream anymore. One of the best examples of this is the Porsche Design Tower at Miami Beach. The distinctive feature of this building, where the mansion with a car elevator price is between 5-32 million $, is the car elevator. There are three high-tech hydraulic automobile elevators that can carry your car to your apartment. According to your apartment, you can park 2-7 automobiles in the building.
Elevators have become a key element in today’s world. They help us cross limits and make our lives easier and happier. ISF Elevator and Engineering Company can design and help you with any kind of automobile elevator and car elevator manufacturers that make your life happier. Our experienced engineers can help and guide you with your questions and concerns at any time.

ISF Elevator – Content Producer