Comment on Lilium (LILM) receives firm order from UrbanLink to put 20 eVTOL jets into service in Florida

• assassinatedbyCIA@lemmy.world ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  Lol

  In January 2020 Aerokurier published a report which stated that Lilium could not meet its stated aircraft performance goals and would only be able to fly for two minutes at a time.[41] The anonymously-authored report was dismissed by the company but later backed up by four German aerospace academics who wrote that Lilium was “using brilliant PR to create an illusory world to attract investors.”[42][43] In February 2021, Forbes published an article citing a number of former employees that stated the development of Lilium’s aircraft was “dogged by problems and that the flight test campaign made minimal progress.”[44]

  From the companies Wikipedia page.

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  • potatopotato@sh.itjust.works ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    I ran the numbers myself a while back, it’s not pretty at all.

    Until you hear about people traveling >200mi and getting their commercial pilots licenses entirely on conventional takeoff fixed wing electric aircraft (see pipistrel electro) it’s safe to assume this vtol industry is grounded. The conventional fixed wing aircraft are wildly more efficient in terms of battery mass fraction and range but they don’t get investors excited like a personal quadcopter for the (ultra wealthy) masses.

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