Shift Magazine - May 2021 - 11

It's a bird. It's a plane.

IT'S AN eVTOL?

Lilium is developing technology for an electric future - in the sky
BY ALEXA ST. JOHN

hat if one German electric
aircraft company told you
that industrywide goals to
" go greener " could translate
from the road to the sky?
Lilium is developing a seven-seat personal electric vertical takeoff and landing
jet, or eVTOL (EE'-vee-tole), in the hopes of
spearheading the future of electric aircraft.
It's also developing its own high-tech
vertiport landing strips in Florida - and
that's just the start.
" Our vision is to create a sustainable
and accessible mode of high-speed travel
and bring this to every community, " Lilium
CEO Daniel Wiegand said in a statement.
" Transport infrastructure is broken. It is
costly in personal time, space consumption and carbon emissions. "
Lilium is pursuing the electric jet technology because it will bring more capability to aircraft " with lower cost per seat
mile while delivering low noise and low
emissions, " Wiegand said.

CAPABILITY

Lilium, founded in 2015, announced in
March that it would go public in a $3.3
billion deal via special-purpose acquisition company Qell.
Leading Qell Acquisition Corp. is Barry
Engle, a former General Motors North
America president, who has said he's
interested in sustainable mobility and is
confident in the Lilium Jet.
" A lot of times people talk about flying
cars or air taxis, if you will, " Engle said
on an April episode of the Automotive
News podcast " Daily Drive. " " It doesn't
do justice to what this product is. It is a
highly engineered aircraft. In terms of
the form factor, when you think about it,

Lilium envisions its jets will connect towns 25 to 125 miles apart.

essentially, it's a business jet, and it happens to take off and land vertically. "
The jet has a 45.6-foot wingspan and
is nearly 28 feet long. Fixed wings and
no tail boost the jet's cruising efficiency,
according to Lilium.
The Lilium Jet, for which commercial
operations are planned for 2024, also
has a 155-plus-mile range and is able to
cruise at up to 10,000 feet at 175 mph.
The technology expands upon Lilium's
five-seater concept, first demonstrated
in May 2019.
The jet uses 36 electric ducted fans
with integrated acoustic liners to keep its
noise level low. The fans are embedded
into the wings.

INFRASTRUCTURE

The company ultimately envisions connecting towns and cities between 25 and
125 miles apart, calling this " regional air
mobility " instead of " urban air mobility. "
" We do see this company being at
the absolute forefront of this really exciting new industry, " Engle said. " It's not
very often that you see an opportunity to
create a market that large and then find
a technology and a company that has an
opportunity to differentiate itself and be

one of the leaders. "
The jet technology is one thing. Preparing
the necessary infrastructure is another.
Though Lilium can use existing helipads
because of its ducted fans, the company
also plans to build its own infrastructure
for landing, recharging and takeoff. Lilium
is building a network of vertiports across
Central and South Florida.
Lilium says the network will span 186
miles, with the goal that most of Florida's
20 million residents will live within 30
minutes of a vertiport, allowing people
to live farther outside city centers, commute more easily and approach their
transportation options differently.
The company said in January that it
is partnering with the city of Orlando,
design agency Tavistock Development
Co. and infrastructure provider Ferrovial
Airports to develop at least 10 vertiports
in major cities across the state.
Outside the U.S., Lilium is working on developing a network between
Düsseldorf and Cologne Bonn airports in
Germany.
" The addressable market of this opportunity is huge, " Engle said. " The real
competition for this aircraft is long, boring
car rides. " n
may 2021 * shift

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5/14/21 4:49 PM

https://www.lilium.com/newsroom-detail/ferrovial-and-lilium-develop-us-vertiport-network https://www.autonews.com/mobility-report-newsletter/german-electric-aircraft-company-take-flight-spac-launch-evtol-jet-2024 https://www.lilium.com/newsroom-detail/ferrovial-and-lilium-develop-us-vertiport-network https://www.autonews.com/weekend-drive-podcast/daily-drive-podcast-april-8-2021-former-gm-president-engle-takes-flight-air https://www.autonews.com/weekend-drive-podcast/daily-drive-podcast-april-8-2021-former-gm-president-engle-takes-flight-air

Shift Magazine - May 2021

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