Lilium Jet

The Lilium Jet is a proposed German vertical take-off and landing electrically powered personal air vehicle designed by Lilium GmbH.[1] The Lilium Jet five-seater prototype first flew in May 2019.[2][3]

Lilium Jet
Role eVTOL
National origin Germany
Manufacturer Lilium GmbH
Introduction Planned for 2025
Status Under development

Development

Many different subscale aircraft were tested first, and different design variants were studied where the wings would fold forward, so that the aircraft could be driven as a VTOL and recharge in only few hours from a standard 240 V electrical outlet. A first half-scale demonstrator, Falcon, flew in 2015. The unmanned first flight of the two-seat Eagle full size prototype was on 20 April 2017 at the Mindelheim-Mattsies airfield, Bavaria, Germany.[4]

The five-seat unmanned Lilium Jet is flight tested at Oberpfaffenhofen airfield near Munich. By October 2019, after 100 flights, it was transitioned from vertical to horizontal flight, reaching over 100 km/h (54 kn), but not yet fully horizontal. It managed 25° banked turns, high ascent/descent rates like in operations, hover turns and sideward translations. Electrical, fan and flap failures were mitigated by the electrical and flight control systems. The company employs around 350 people in Munich and expects to create around 500 jobs by 2025.

In July 2019, Lilium announced London, UK, as its base to develop its software engineering team.[5] The engineering team is led by Carlos Morgado, former chief technology officer of Just Eat. Lilum announced the completion of its first manufacturing facility in October 2019.[6] The same month, the Lilium five-seater Jet received a Red Dot Award: Design Concept for “Best of the Best”.[7]

The first prototype was destroyed by fire during maintenance on 27 February 2020. A second partially-constructed prototype was undamaged.[8]

Design

The Lilium Jet is planned as a five-seater aircraft. It is powered by 36 electric motors, with six of them on each of the two front wings and twelve on each rear wing. In addition to the fixed part of the wings, the propellers and engines are each installed in twelve tiltable wing parts. These are referred to by the manufacturer as flaps, in analogy to Landing flaps. The drive-carrying "flaps" are pivoted downwards for vertical launch.[9] At the transition to the horizontal position, forward thrust is generated. This is energetically much more economical than the lift by pure rotorcraft.

The five-seat Lilium Jet targets a range of 300 km (160 nmi). Its 36 electric ducted fans are powered by a 1 MW (1,300 hp) lithium-ion battery; less than 200 hp (150 kW) is required to cruise.[10]

Specifications for the Eagle 2-seat prototype

The predicted characteristics of the Eagle two-seat prototype (first flown in April 2017) are listed below.

Data from Lilium GmbH / Electric VTOL News by the Vertical Flight Society[11]

General characteristics

  • Capacity: 2 passengers (flown unmanned)
  • Empty weight: 970 lb (440 kg)
  • Max takeoff weight: 1,411 lb (640 kg)
  • Powerplant: 36 × Vertical Electric 320 kW total installed power

Performance

  • Maximum speed: 250 mph (400 km/h, 220 kn)
  • Cruise speed: 190 mph (300 km/h, 160 kn)
  • Range: 190 mi (300 km, 160 nmi)

Usage

The Lilium GmbH plans to found an air taxi service for urban air mobility with the Lilium Jet.[12] The company expects that pilots will be needed for around 10 years until autonomous flights can take over.[10]

See also

Related development

Aircraft of comparable role, configuration, and era

Related lists

References
  1. Hodgetts, Rob (25 April 2017). "Successful test flight brings Lilium electric air taxis closer to reality". CNN.
  2. "Lilium unveils five-seater air taxi prototype after a successful maiden flight for its latest jet". techcrunch. 16 May 2019.
  3. "Five seater self-flying air taxi unveiled". BBC. 16 May 2019.
  4. Andrew J. Hawkins (6 April 2017). "Watch this all-electric 'flying car' take its first test flight in Germany". theverge. Retrieved 30 April 2019.
  5. Field, Matthew (11 June 2019). "Boost for UK tech as German flying taxi startup creates 'hundreds' of new London software jobs". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235.
  6. Rudgard, Olivia (22 October 2019). "The electric air taxi that could take you from London to Manchester in an hour starting in 2025". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235.
  7. "Lilium jet awarded prestigious 'Best of the Best' Red Dot design award". Robotics & Automation News. 30 July 2019. Retrieved 8 January 2020.
  8. "Investigation launched as Lilium Jet prototype is destroyed by fire". FlightGlobal. 2 March 2020. Retrieved 2 March 2020.
  9. Lilium (6 August 2018). "Simplicity was our Most Complicated Goal". lilium. Retrieved 30 April 2019.
  10. Graham Warwick, ed. (28 October 2019). "The Week In Technology, Oct. 28-Nov. 1, 2019". Aviation Week & Space Technology.
  11. "Lilium Jet". eVtol news. 15 April 2017.
  12. Maija Palmer (19 February 2019). "Lilium's flying taxi service: clear for takeoff?". sifted.eu. Retrieved 18 October 2018.
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