Automated/Mechanical Parking
I had the opportunity to tour three different types of automated parking structures in Shanghai this morning thanks to the hospitality of Hangzhou Xizi. As an American I viewed these structures as “neat” devices that might have an application in very high density areas but after seeing them in action I can see them for what they are: one possible answer to the question of what structure to build.
The first structure we saw was a “stack and slide” model that basically doubled the space of parking and was utilized at a 5 star hotel for staff.
The next was a lot more elaborate but ostensibly the same concept (back your car in and it goes up and slides over, key in your car number and down it comes).
The China Parking System Manufacturers Association requires that a car has to be returned to the owner in under two minutes. The final system is a fully automated system-drive in, leave the car and woosh it is gone, upon your return it is brought down and turned around for you so you never have to reverse. This company has built a structure that can handle 104 cars on the footprint of three cars. Now the ongoing maintenance costs seemed high ($10 per space per month and that is here in Shanghai)
The numbers are staggering
I have been wondering why at InterParking Shanghai where there are 30 exhibitors who are focused on parking and only 2 have any products in their booths that are not automated parking structures (one is a guidance company and they other has a revenue control system off to the side). I got the answer at the conference portion of the show that was held today.
There were 5 presentations all about automated and mechanical parking. The presentation that stuck with me was given by Gong Jianping. Of the 20 densest cities on Earth (according to Forbes magazine) 5 are in China and none are in the USA or Europe. Every year for the past 10 years the new car ownership versus the previous year has grown by a minimum of 22% and averages 40% growth each year and this past year was the first time that more cars were bought in China than in any other country. The numbers do not seem to be slowing. They have an incredibly dense population, a huge influx of cars and they need to go somewhere now. So while there are many issues that can and need to be corrected with parking, the issue of where to park” is the proverbially 800 pound gorilla in the Chinese market. They would ignore it at their peril. That being said they are definitely installing them. Over 170,000 mechanical spaces were installed last year (for a total of over 700,000 spaces). The estimates are that in 3 years from now 500,000 automated parking spaces will be installed each year in China. This is a number that is hard to grasp until you see the problems first hand.
AVH
