© Lilium / YouTube
Lilium Aviation has successfully tested its all-electric vertical take-off-and-landing (VTOL) jet, stealing a march on rivals in the race to deliver the world's first 'flying car.'
Propelled by its 36 jet engines, the two-seater VTOL can reach a cruising speed of 300kph (186mph) and maintain that speed for an hour on a single charge.
The firm, which has backing from Skype co-founder Niklas Zennstrom, tested the aircraft's take-off-and-landing capabilities as well as its ability to hover and perform short flights.
The test paves the way for Lilium to achieve its ultimate goal of developing an on-demand air taxi.
In a statement the company said: "We have solved some of the toughest engineering challenges in aviation to get to this point."
Lilium is not the only firm developing flying car technology, however.
AeroMobil announced Thursday that it planned to take pre-orders for the "limited first edition" of its flying cars. The Slovakian firm is confident its car - priced between €1.2mn and €1.5mn can be delivered by 2020.
Meanwhile, Yi-Hang of China is preparing to make its Ehang 184 passenger drone available for on-demand taxi rides in Dubai. The company plans to roll out the drones in July.
Airbus, German firm E-Volo and Boston-based Terrafugia have all been working on similar projects in recent years with designs ranging from rotor-based 'multicopters' to part-car, part-plane hybrids. Taxi company Uber also plans to bring together engineers at its Elevate Summit in Dallas, Texas, to discuss the future of air travel.
Reader Comments
The draw from 50 to 100 amps each and put out 10-20 pounds of thrust each. I'm not doing the math but that's a staggering amp draw x 32.
The fellows at PAL V, in the Netherlands, have a real flying car that is now certified road and airworthy with first deliveries scheduled for next year. Top speed 100 mph on the highway and you're not range limited to an electric charge. Fill it up at any service station and you're back on your way.
Airborn in under 600 feet and an operational ceiling a bit over 11,000 feet. I saw in an earlier video that the airspeed is 130 mph, but they make no mention of this in the videos here. The downside is the price, starting at around $400k, up to $600k for all the bells and whistles.
Good video here at the bottom of the page [Link]
Place your order here [Link]