World’s 1st Electric-Powered Jet Has Been Tested By Lilium; This Will Be 5-Seater Air Taxi!

Creating a proud moment in the history of science, German start-up Lilium has successfully tested their first all-electric five-seater aircraft, the Lilium Jet.

Now, thanks to this new development, the journey that generally takes 55 minutes by car from JFK’s airport to Manhattan will now merely take 5 minutes and will cost about $70 per passenger, which is way cheaper than helicopters and commercial aeroplanes as well!

Read on to know all about this newly tested and ready to launch aircraft!

Lilium: Origin and History

Lilium was established in 2015 by four engineers and PhD students at the Technical University of Munich.

Two years ago, Lilium completed the flight tests of the world’s maiden electric vertical and take-off and landing (VTOL) jet.  It was a two-seater prototype and was remotely controlled by the pilot on the ground. It accomplished the tests of vertical take-off and changeover between hover mode and forward flight mode.

Only a year later, it received $90 million funding from Venture Capitalists, and in return, Lilium promised to work on a five-seater electric aircraft for taxi services. Keeping its word, Lilium finally announced their successful test of the Lilium Jet on May 4.    

“While a maiden flight is always a moment of truth for a business, the Lilium Jet performed exactly as expected and responded well to our inputs,” said Daniel Wiegand, Lilium’s co-founder and CEO.

The Technical Details of the Lilium Jet

With the peak speed of 300 km/hr and a range of 300 km (186 miles) in a single charge, the Lilium Jet is powered by 36 electric engines that don’t create the blaring noise like helicopters and commercial aeroplanes. Having exceptional power-to-weight and thrust-to-noise ratios, the Jet will have low vibrations to provide the passengers with a smooth ride.

The design is exceptionally beautiful, with an egg-shaped cabin that can carry five passengers. The design is so smoothly done that the Jet will use only 10 per cent of it total 2000 HP during its cruise flight because of relative lack of movement (having no tail, rudders, propellers and gearbox) and fixed-wing design.

Applications and Objectives

The Lilium Jet will primarily be used for taxi and ridesharing services.

The main objective of the aircraft is to land on pads positioned at various major spots in the city and carrying their passengers to their destinations swiftly in no time simultaneously adding no traffic and pollution to the ground.

The company is currently working on building apps like Uber or Lyft where customers can book their flight tickets and are planning to provide a human on board pilot for each aircraft. They are also performing various other tests on the Lilium Jet to receive the certification against commercial aircraft safety standards.

Reportedly, 2025 is the year when Lilium’s first fully functional air taxi service will launch.

We definitely can’t wait for 2025!

What do you think of this notable development by Lilium? Share your thoughts with us in the comments section!