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Lilium (LILM) receives firm order from UrbanLink to put 20 eVTOL jets into service in Florida (electrek.co)

submitted 6 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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[–] [email protected] 13 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (2 children)

They claim that these are less loud and less dangerous. Since this uses a shit ton of engines it means that multiple engines can fail before it loses lift. The reason why helicopters are loud as fuck is because the tips of the blades break the sound barrier. The blades in these engines do not go faster than the speed of sound. And unlike a helicopter this eVTOL has wings so when it is in flight the rotors don’t need to spin as fast as during takeoff so the engines make less noise.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 6 months ago

and the controls are supposed to be drastically easier. helicopters are constantly suicidal and need to be strong armed.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 months ago (1 children)

The thing is everything works in renderland. Just build a fucking train or something.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 months ago (1 children)

But this thing works https://youtu.be/ywJWka1evH8

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 months ago (1 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 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.