The VertiGate story starts in 1985 in the foothills of Santa Barbara, California, with a compulsively competent individualist named Fred Carr. A self-taught machinist and engineer, Fred had settled on 40 acres of remote woodland, built his own home from three massive redwood wine tanks, and created his own water and power systems.

When it came time for an electric gate at the head of his lengthy drive, Fred unlocked the shop - a “shed” more than twice as large as the house - and went to work. He knew it had to open vertically, to clear uneven terrain littered with brush and boulders and subject to seasonal erosion. He also knew, living “off the grid,” that it had to positively sip electricity.

Evolution happens, refinements take place, improvements come along. But that first generation VertiGate incorporated some of our most cherished features: All our driveway gates, from the prototype onward, have run from a simple 12 volt car battery. All of them have been beautifully counterbalanced to absolutely minimize energy usage. Every VertiGate can be recharged with household AC, or our optional solar panel system. And we’re still the only gate that lifts and folds with the “collapsing parallelogram” motion that Fred devised.

Fred left us recently, and we mourn. But if he were here, and we asked, he’d likely say that sailing the world in a small boat, successfully growing one of the finickiest wine grapes known to man, or spending a peaceful evening with music and friends was far more meaningful to him than developing VertiGate. We wouldn’t disagree.

But neither can we let his brilliantly designed, battery-operated, vertically opening, power-sipping, solar rechargeable driveway gate system slip away with him. Fred’s wife Barbara has been at the helm of VertiGate for 20 years, and remains there today. We still manufacture our gates right here in Southern California, to Fred’s impeccable standards.

VertiGate makes driveway gates customized to your size and style requirements, but we make them in only one quality level: commercial. Our gate will run hundreds of cycles per day, every day. We ship our gates all over the US and Canada, and even worldwide. Our system is well-suited to residential, commercial, industrial, institutional, and government installations.

Of the many driveway gate options available today, we think VertiGate is not just the best, but frankly the only solution in difficult terrain. We think we have the only viable solar-powered gate, sipping a mere 36 watts when operating, and offering hundreds of cycles between charges if necessary. But even if you don’t need those features, we hope you’ll consider our gate for its other fine merits. Browse our website, give us a call, or visit one of our many partner sales and installation professionals to learn more.