As countless organizations work toward the future of electric powered, environmentally friendly mobility, one Munich based firm seems to be leading the world in the future of electric flight. Lilium has been backed by several major investment firms including former Twitter CEO, Evan Williams’ Obvious Ventures. With total funding now exceeding $100 million dollars, after a recent round adding $90M to their total raised capital, it is looking increasingly likely that Lilium just may become the world leader in this genre.
Daniel Wiegand, Lilium co-founder and CEO said: “This investment is a tremendously important step for Lilium as it enables us to make the five-seat jet a reality. This is the next stage in our rapid evolution from an idea to the production of a commercially successful aircraft that will revolutionise the way we travel in and around the world’s cities. It makes Lilium one of the best funded electric aircraft projects in the world. Our backers recognise that Lilium’s innovative eVTOL technology puts us in the lead in this exciting new industry, with no other company promising the economy, speed, range and low-noise levels of the Lilium Jet.
“We are continuing to recruit the very brightest and best global talent in aeronautical engineering, physics, electric propulsion and computer science to join us on this extraordinary aviation journey where the only limits are the laws of physics.”
Lilium was founded in 2015 by Wiegand and his associates Sebastian Born, Matthias Meiner and Patrick Nathen, during their studies at the Technical University of Munich. In under two years, the founders vision has gone on to employ more than 70 engineers to develop an unrivaled fully electric vertical take off and landing Jet. Lilium has already successfully test flown their fully autonomous 5 seat prototype, which has exhibted exceptional maneuverability and performance.
Although, the aircraft’s electric engines function similar to a conventional jet’s engines, their are some significant differences including the fact that the compressor fan is powered by an electric motor, rather than a typical petrol turbine, making for ultra quiet travel. The change over from fuel to electricity also makes for considerably more economical running costs compared to a conventional jet. Lilium expects this fact to enable their product to compete with not only other planes, but all areas of transportation.
The Lilium Jet is expected to travel at a top speed of 300kmph for up-to one hour on just a single charge. This allows for a 19 KM flight from Manhattan to JFK in just five minutes, at a cost which is estimated to be less than taxi fare.
