Lilium Jet

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Lilium Jet
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Type: electric VTOL aircraft
Design country:

GermanyGermany Germany

Manufacturer:

Lilium GmbH

First flight:

April 20, 2017

The Lilium Jet is a 36-engine, electrically powered, vertical take-off and landing aircraft made by the German manufacturer Lilium . It is planned that it will be able to transport five people autonomously and be used as an air taxi . Contrary to the term "jet" used, the aircraft has no jet engines , but pivoting ducted propellers .

development

On the basis of many models on a reduced scale , design variants were examined in which the wings fold forward for the transition from vertical to horizontal flight. The batteries of the convertible aircraft should be able to be charged in a few hours from a 230 V socket . In 2015 a first demonstrator called the Falcon flew on a scale of 1: 2.

The unmanned maiden flight of a two-seater prototype took place on April 20, 2017 at the special airport Oberpfaffenhofen, near Munich. Also there, on May 4, 2019, the five-seat prototype of the Lilium Jet lifted off the ground for about 40 seconds for the first time. It was presented to the public a little later. In the course of further tests, the prototype reached a speed of over 100 km / h.

The serial production is aimed for the mid-2020s. According to the manufacturer, the Lilium Jet has been going through the EASA approval process since 2019 . In future, Lilium will purchase the carbon fibers from Toray . The fuselage, wings and flaps are made from this.

construction

The drive of the aircraft consists of 36 electric motors , each on a ducted propeller act. The convertible aircraft, designed as a duck plane , has six ducted propellers on each of the two front wings and twelve on each of the rear surfaces. Behind a fixed part of the wing, the propellers and engines are each installed in twelve tiltable wing sections (referred to by the manufacturer as flaps in analogy to landing flaps ). The "flaps" supporting the drive are swiveled downwards for a vertical start . During the transition to the horizontal position, a forward thrust is generated, after which the wings take over the necessary lift . In terms of energy, this is much more economical than the generation of lift by rotors .

Assessments of feasibility

Since 2016, specialist articles have repeatedly questioned whether the targeted target parameters of the Lilium Jet are technically feasible with current battery technology or battery technology that will be achievable in the near future: In 2016, journalist Eric Adams argued in an article in Wired magazine that either only a significantly lower Range is possible, or much heavier batteries are required. In August 2018, an article appeared in the same magazine that calculated that only a few minutes of net flight time would be available under the given boundary conditions . In October 2018 in the US magazine The Drive , Adams described the concept as "far beyond the possibilities that more than 100 companies have so far achieved in their attempts to develop an electric aircraft."

At the beginning of 2020, the specialist magazine aerokurier published a fundamental criticism of the concept of the Lilium Jet under the title "Hope bearers or impostors?" , Which was taken up and reinforced by Spiegel shortly afterwards. The criticism is based on a study that was carried out by an as yet unknown expert, the results of which have now been confirmed by two independent aviation experts, Erol Özger from the Technical University of Ingolstadt and Mirko Hornung from the Technical University of Munich. It is derived in detail that the announced by Lilium range of 300 km with today's battery technology and the scheduled 36 small coat propellers not even (ducted fans) is nearly reached. In an article in Technology Review magazine on February 24, 2020, Andreas Bardenhagen, head of the aircraft and lightweight construction department at the TU Berlin, contradicted this . According to his analysis, Lilium's goals are “very ambitious, but not impossible”. However, this would require, among other things, a considerable increase in the energy density of the batteries.

In an interview with the Süddeutsche Zeitung on July 14, 2020, CEO Daniel Wiegand indirectly addressed the range discussion by saying "We have to reach at least 150 to 180 kilometers at the beginning (...), and we will significantly exceed that" .

use

The Lilium Jet is not to be sold as an aircraft itself, but its service as an air taxi . It is planned that this offer will be implemented in at least two cities from 2025.

incident

On February 27, 2020, the first prototype burned during maintenance work.

Technical specifications

The technical data are from the development phase April 2017.

Parameter Data 2-seater Data 5-seater
crew Pilot, self-steering possible
Passengers 2 5
Max. Takeoff mass 640 kg 1500 kg
Empty mass 440 kg
payload 200 kg
Cruising speed 280 km / h
Top speed 300 km / h
Range 150-300 km
Max. Flight duration 60 min
Engines 36 electric motors with a total of 320 kW

Award

On September 25, 2019, the Red Dot Award Design Concept was presented in Singapore . Lilium has won awards from America and Europe, along with 12 other companies.

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Alex Davies: Lilium's Funky 'Jet' Could Make Our Dreams of Flying Cars Come True (Lilium's unconventional 'Jet' could make our dreams of flying cars come true). In: wired.com. April 20, 2017, accessed October 19, 2018 .
  2. ↑ Alexander Davies: World premiere from Munich: Interview with the Lilium founder. In: wired.de. April 20, 2017. Retrieved October 18, 2018 .
  3. ↑ CHAMBER OF THE HEART: Up to date. In: herzkammer.bayern. Accessed May 1, 2019 .
  4. ↑ Andreas Donath: Lilium small electric plane takes off. In: golem.de. April 21, 2017. Retrieved April 30, 2018 .
  5. ↑ Lilium Jet flies: five seats, great travel experience in use from 2025. In: CleanThinking.de. May 16, 2019, accessed May 16, 2019 .
  6. ↑ Astrid Becker: Air taxi, please! In: sueddeutsche.de. May 16, 2019, accessed July 16, 2019 .
  7. ↑ Media Releases: Lilium completes funding round worth more than $ 240 million. Lilium, March 23, 2020, accessed March 23, 2020 .
  8. ↑ Stefan Krempl: E-mobility pioneer: Air taxis will be on the market before 5G comes into the area. In: heise.de. December 18, 2018, accessed March 23, 2019 .
  9. ↑ Toray to supply carbon composites for Lilium Jet. In: evtol.com. July 20, 2020, accessed on July 25, 2020 .
  10. ^ Manne Kreuzer: First flight of an electric VTOL air taxi. In: elektroniknet.de. April 21, 2017. Retrieved April 30, 2018 .
  11. ↑ Eric Adams: This Bizarre Private Jet Concept Might Fly — But It Won't Take You Far . In: Wired . June 15, 2016, ISSN  1059-1028 ( wired.com [accessed January 28, 2020]).
  12. ↑ Oliver Franklin-Wallis: The battery to power Uber's flying car dreams doesn't exist (yet). In: wired.co.uk. August 2, 2018, accessed May 1, 2019 .
  13. ↑ Eric Adams: Air Taxi Start-Up Lilium Boldly Claims It Will Start Flying 'Much Sooner Than' 2025. In: www.thedrive.com. October 29, 2018, accessed January 28, 2020 .
  14. ↑ Hope or impostor? , accessed on January 23, 2020
  15. ↑ DER SPIEGEL: Experts from the specialist magazine "Aerokurier" have doubts about the Lilium-Jet electric air taxi. January 18, 2020, accessed January 28, 2020 .
  16. ↑ Air taxi start-up still in need of explanation , Der Spiegel January 22, 2020
  17. ↑ . O V .: The flight performance of Lilium- "Jets" and eVTOL in general - a concept Calculation . Ed .: Aerokurier. ( aerokurier.de [PDF; 340 kB ; accessed on January 23, 2020]).
  18. ^ Sascha Mattke: Air number Lilium? Technology Review, February 24, 2020, accessed February 27, 2020 .
  19. ↑ a b Material for air taxis , Süddeutsche, July 14, 2020, page 22.
  20. ↑ ZEIT ONLINE, dpa, AFP, jk: Electric flight taxi makes maiden flight. Time, May 16, 2019, accessed March 23, 2020 .
  21. ↑ Christoph Koopmann: Air taxi burned down - Lilium loses prototypes. Süddeutsche Zeitung , February 28, 2020, accessed on February 28, 2020 .
  22. ↑ Ulrike Ebner: An electric plane for everyday life. In: Flugrevue.de. Flugrevue, May 16, 2016, accessed August 7, 2018 .
  23. ↑ Christian Vetterlein: Lilium Jet - Electric Airplane of the Future? - The Lilium Jet - an innovation in aviation. In: arts.eu. ARTS, accessed August 7, 2018 .
  24. ↑ Marinela Potor: Lilium vs. Pop.Up: Which electric plane is the high-flyer? In: mobilitymag. April 28, 2017. Retrieved September 30, 2018 .
  25. ↑ Lilium Jet Specifications. In: evtol.news. The Electric VTOL News, accessed March 4, 2020 .
  26. ↑ dpa: Five-seat electric flying taxi Lilium Jet takes off. Tagesspiegel, May 16, 2019, accessed on March 23, 2020 .
  27. ↑ Red Dot Design Ranking. In: red-dot.org. September 25, 2019, accessed September 27, 2019 .