Ahoy hoy, elevator professionals. I'm writing a spec script where the lead is an experienced elevator repairman and needs to drop a car many floors during a blackout -- from inside the car with no tools but a knife. Realistically, this may be impossible given the number of redundancies/ safety features on standard elevators. Semi-realistically, I'd like to know if there is a way to override electromagnet brakes from inside the car. Can the electrical line to the brake coils be accessed through the car floor or ceiling? How much voltage is actually required to energize a standard coil? (between us: lower the better for my hero, who in his sticky position has access to maybe 25 volts DC, but this is a movie, so I can fudge).

next questions will concern dealing with the counterweight and how much shock an absorber piston will really save a human from, but step by step...

thanks in advance.