Taxis of the Future: Jet Powered Electric Flying Vehicles

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A German startup has been at work designing and testing a new electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) vehicle for human passengers. The Munich based company, Lilium, has recently released a new video showcasing the company’s “first phase of flight testing.”

The vehicle in development would fly passengers to their destinations in urban areas. Lilium claims that the “air taxi” can reach speeds faster than 62 miles per hour and can fly over 186 miles on a single charge.

The German company believes that its eVTOL aircraft will stand out in the already competitive passenger drone market. Companies from the United States, South Korea, and China have already begun to test their unmanned electric VTOL passenger aircraft.

In contrast to many other eVTOL air taxis that use propellers for lift, Lilium’s aircraft utilizes 36 electric powered jet engines to propel the vehicle. The vehicle gains its propulsion from the engines and its lift from both the engines and its wings. The aircraft’s engines grant the vehicle 2,000 horsepower, with Popularmechanics.com mentioning that the aircraft only needs 10% of its maximum engine power to keep the vehicle in the air during horizontal flight. There is no mention yet as towards how much horsepower the vehicle uses for vertical flight.

Still only a prototype, the air taxi had a test flight this past May. The aircraft was flown remotely from the ground and had no human passengers in it at the time of flight. The aircraft has also gone through several series of safety tests, testing the vehicle’s engines, flaps, and fuses.

“The Lilium Jet continues to meet our expectations, delivering excellent in-flight performance and remarkably smooth transition from vertical to horizontal flight,” said the head of flight testing at Lilium, Leandro Bigarella.

With the company’s first 3,000 square meter manufacturing plant complete, it is very likely that Lilium could manage to stand out compared to the competition. The company has already made plans to begin working on its second manufacturing plant.

The company hopes to have its first customers in the air by the year 2025.

Lilium Jet – flight footage from Lilium on Vimeo.