Electric air taxi from start-up Lilium takes off and lands successfully in test
German start-up Lilium has successfully completed a first test flight with its Lilium Jet, an electrically powered flying taxi. The manufacturer hopes to be able to use the device, which can accommodate five people, commercially in various cities by 2025.
The Munich-based company has previously conducted test flights with smaller versions of the Lilium Jet, but this time, according to The Verge, it was the first time it was a full-size copy. A video shows how the aircraft takes off vertically, like a helicopter, and then lands safely. Not yet a real ‘test flight’, but a crucial moment for the further development of the flying taxi, according to the makers in the video.
The Lilium Jet is powered by 36 electric jet engines in the wings. After the aircraft has taken off vertically, the engines can tilt, so that the Jet can also move horizontally. A tailplane, propellers or a rudder, as with a classic airplane, are not involved. According to the German developer, the final model of the Lilium Jet will have a range of 300 kilometers and a top speed of 300 km/h.
The flying taxi has five seats, four of which are for passengers. Because although the test flight was conducted without a pilot, in the future Lilium – unlike some competitors – does want to fly with a pilot on board. The German company opts for this, because it would speed up the approval of the flying taxi. In the meantime, Lilium has submitted an application to the European Aviation Safety Agency and will soon do the same with its American counterpart, the US Federal Aviation Administration.
The intention is that in the future travelers can order a flying taxi from Lilium via an app. A company spokesman quoted a price of $70 for a flight from Manhattan to JFK International Airport, which would take less than ten minutes.
One of the biggest challenges in electric flying is the power-to-weight ratio. Today’s batteries usually do not have enough energy on board to get these types of devices off the ground. To illustrate: a jet engine running on conventional fuel currently supplies about 43 times more energy than a battery system of the same weight.