Category Filtering: 'lilium'
In the timeline of electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft developments, Lilium GmbH first came to widespread public attention in April 2017 with the release of a video of the futuristic, prototype, two-seat Lilium Jet flying around outside the Bavarian capital of Munich, at the Special Airport Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany.
On March 30, Lilium GmbH announced that it had agreed to merge with Qell Acquisition Corp., and revealed the development of its 7-seat Lilium Jet.
The Vertical Flight Society has been working to advance electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft since 2013, providing technical, professional and business resources to this burgeoning sector. As a leading advocate of the “Electric VTOL Revolution,” VFS has been holding its Electric VTOL Symposiums since 2014, started its Electric VTOL Newsletter in 2016, and launched its Electric VTOL website in 2017.
European views on how soon and how best electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft might create new transportation markets differ — in some cases strongly — with the vision being pushed by urban air mobility (UAM) promoters, such as Uber. At its Uber Elevate Summit in Washington in June, the ride-hailing company promised it was on track to launch air taxi demonstration flights with its partners in the Dallas/Fort Worth area in 2020 and to begin actual commercial service in 2023.
Uber said that by the time flight demonstration programs begin in 2020, they will have to validate that they have mitigated the three biggest risks: efficient flights (airspace acceptance), noise (community acceptance) and safety (passenger acceptance). Note that Uber is not funding the development of the aircraft, but is helping to facilitate connections between investors and developers.
An aviation gold rush is on. The belief that advances in electric propulsion and autonomy technologies are making cheap, quiet and even fully automated air taxis as feasible as automatic elevators is fueling a frenzy of design and development of small electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft. Some e-VTOLs are already flying. Others will be soon. Many more are on the drawing boards.
