I am a 92 year old retired Aeronautical Structures Engineer “ex Canadair RCAF Boeing and Transport Canada Airworthiness” and see one of the the greatest developments in engineering is, the improvements in batteries bringing forth tremendously the use of the Electric motor . This motor is so versatile in its use and development, it’s vastly increased application is amazing. Could you have ever imagined the way Lillium has adapted the electric motor for flight.

Extremely Exciting 🌟👍🏻

Thanks for the Video, especially the battery part was brilliant -ly explained! ;)

Great video. Looking forward to more contents in the future. Love this channel. One of the important part to evaluate the cell performance which is not captured by Lilium is the battery cycling performance. It's a trade-off between power, energy and cycle life. It's great to see the battery can provide enough power for vertical take-off and landing while has decent energy density. However, the unit economics will suffer if the cycle life is bad and drive the operation cost too high, then the price won't be accepted by broader users

The Tech is amazing, i can't wait to fly in one of them!!

Incredible engineering

Using the term "jet" to refer to the propulsion may be colloquially adequate, but won't showcase the difference between combustion-based airbreathing reaction engines and any other kind of propulsion system (though it does share some similarity with rocket engines and ion thrusters). That's because what makes a jet enginebe called like that is the fact that the combustion directly powers the rotation of main fan blades. There aren't any pistons or even any mechanical power transfer other than the axle shared by the combustion compressor and the main fan. Still, we usually call any ducted-fan a "jet" engine; Why? Well, that's because all jet engines are, by design limitations, ducted fans! This is the natural consequence of needing a proper chamber for the combustion, access to plenty of air for the combustion to occur and a nozzle at the end to increase the speed of the resulting airflow (mainly the air that gets "bypassed" on modern turbofans, though the combustion exhaustion also helps a bit). So yeah, Electric turbofans cannot be considered jet engines, as they are driven by electric motors, not a mix of compressed air and fuel... Or anything similar. An ion thruster, however, could be made into an electric jet engine, as you can ionize the compressed air to accelerate it and drive the rotor shaft. But I don't see the point of doing so, as ion thrusters (and rocket engines) accelerate gasses beyond "intake" speed (not that rockets have any intake, LMAO), meaning that they don't need a mechanical compressor, just a nozzle at the exhaust. Oh, and if you are wondering why jets need the air to exit the nozzle at a greater speed than it enters, the answer is quite simple: You can only move using air jets as fast as the air gets expelled. We call this "nozzle velocity". However, the blades of any fan can only accelerate air as fast as their tips move (at best, that is), meaning that the closer you get to Mach 1, the closer you are to having flow separation occur on the tip of a conventional turboprop aircraft's propeller blades. When this happens, the aircraft suffers severe efficiency losses as the propeller blades experience flow separation. Moreover, the parasitic drag over their surface of the blades increase by the square of their speeds, meaning less fuel efficiency the faster the blades rotate and the larger they are. Hence the need for nozzles and, by extension, the duct around the fan. Finally, let's not forget that the faster the blades move, the more kinetic energy they have (making collision with objects or animals potentially catastrophic. That explains intake to exhaust ratios (or nozzle rations), but why should you use two giant turbines instead of many smaller ones? 1- Smaller turbines need the same kind of components as larger ones, and the miniaturization will not always translate into a proportionally lighter and smaller component due to material and technology limitations. It also makes maintenance a pain in the back. Big metal. Stronk. Potent. Never broke. Monke happy. 2- Smaller turbines will have a way high percentage of nacelle frontal and external area / total turbine area (nacelle duct and the turbine fan). This means an increase in the drag and friction the more engines you use to achieve the same thrust. Plane smooth. Air flows. Monke happy. 3- Not an specialist, but I've seen somewhere that multiple engines running close to one another can also be a source of problems. May or may not search for it later. So remember that juicy, gargantuan GE90 and its successor, the GE9X? That's why they are like that. Though this is not possible for small VTOL aircrafts like this one.

Impressive technology! Very good science at work here. Otto would be very proud and it's about time someone gives recognition to his name. There will be great advances in renewable energy supply (with and without batteries) in a near future. It's coming up. You have a great design that will best benefit from it. And... it looks mighty good! My best wishes to you all!

Lilium seems to be covering all the bases. This bodes well for a smooth certification process.

Master piece

-- Excellent!

I am not an aerodynamic engineer, but I have been a commercial pilot most of my working life. I know that initial roll and climb needs up to ten times the power of cruise. It has always surprised me that a ground based launch assist systems have never been used except carrier based aircraft and gliders.

Real-world aircraft operate at close to gross weight. For a typical small aircraft, payload can represent as much as 50% of total gross weight. The performance numbers given here are at “operational empty weight”. Assuming that the aircraft has a relatively small payload (as one would expect from a battery aircraft) of, say, 25% of gross weight, the energy requirements for VTOL will be considerably larger which will affect both range and safety margins. I would really be interested to see how this aircraft performs using a conventional runway. Certain existing VTOL aircraft such as the Harrier aircraft reauire rolling takeoffs when loaded to near gross weight as they are incapable of vertical takeoff fully loaded despite using fuel that has an energy density almost ten times that of the best batteries. Furthermore, the Harrier, being both a warplane and fuel-consuming aircraft has an advantage for vertical landing as it is much closer to empty weight upon landing having shed much of its payload weight while in flight. My point is that for all the press that eVTOL aircraft are getting, true, practical, electric flight will appear sooner in conventional fixed-wing form as it is much easier to achieve.

Nice Job, i will create my e-vtol soon.

Do we have a sim for this yet.

So where can I get those cells? Want to test on my own.

The remote control flying world has already adopted the EDF designation for electric model jets. The nitrio fueled R/C Jets have been called DUCTED FANS since the 1970's. R/C Jets with the new generation of electric motors have been called EDF's since the early 2000's. Lilium is electric. Lilium is powered by multiple Ducted fan units. So as far as I can see, EDF applies. Having said all of that, the public will make all this engineering work worthwhile. The company will have to decide whether EDF or JET will play best with the consumer who will ride in it. And I didn't forget the FAA. Lawyers too. Liability will also play a part in how things are marketed. It will be interesting to see how this plays out. But as a licensed pilot, I'm just ready for a ride.

Curious what C discharge rating is deemed neded for VTOL. Does anyone explore dual chemistry or dual battery designs? What's the higher Wh/kg cell used thus far? Tesla and NIO are loosely claiming to be at 360 Wh/kg for upcoming products.

How much can VTO noise levels be reduced with a 50 meter, 100 meter or 200 meter runway? Could winch assisted landings be considered to limit VL noise levels?

What's the life expectancy of the ZenLabs cell?

Even though I agree with de classification of the aircraft as a Jet aircraft, I just find it funny that the video cites Wikipedia as sources for the defenitions of Jet and Jet aircraft... =D. I Remember the times in school we had to copy the sources at the bottom of the wikipedia pages to avoid at all costs using wikipedia itself as a source. Awesome technology, looking forward to see Lilium grow as a company and bring us all incredible new Technologies.

How long does it take to fully charge and what happens if you lose all power when flying? Can it charge up as fast as it takes to refuel a regular airplane? Can it glide? If you're going to tell us how impressive the engineering is, you should probably answer these basic and obvious questions.

This could be very useful for police and medical rescue operations too

does it has a parachute?

Exciting, the next 10 years should be in range, speed, capacity and incorporating unique wing designs away from a traditional to radical but stable wing and fuselage designs.

What is engine-out L/D?

Without combustion, I have to call it a ducted fan. Cool design though. Mine forces air over the wing.

ok, lets assume it works and there is a 50 km range transfer service. After landing you need to recharge again for how many hours then ? I am not getting the concept and I can not derive any usage and business model. The further we are away the more likely is a speedy alternative connection and the more specific the connection is, the less number of persons are there and recharging is difficult. Anyway, a nice money burner and interesting to follow as long as not invested.

In the Azul Airlines soon.

When lilium zet sell in to the commercial market???

When can I have it?

Marry Kenney Patents of ground based fans referenced by Marshall J. Corbett are essential.

You totally ignore the major elephant in the room, power source.

👍🏻❤️

This is an electric multi engine fan plane.

How far can it fly

❤️👍❤️

3:29 But was it transition with a full payload dead weight ??? I doubt it very much.

can it glide?

It's a wonderful, clever engineering development, but I'm not so sure about the commercial potential. The range is 100 to 150 miles, depending whether empty or fully loaded (I think six passengers). Where's the market for that? With a car, you can get there in about 1.8 hours. I don't recall hearing the speed of the aircraft, but what's it's travel time, half that? But then you have to go to and get from an airport. How many small airports are there? Importantly, there isn't much of a market for that niche in aviation right now, so this invention will have to create its own market. Not an easy thing to do. On the other hand, such accomplishments have been done.

👍🏻

What about unpowered glide?

you paint it green and we gonna call it, thunderbird-X2

😎👍

Visit brilliant.org/eVTOLinnovation/ to get started learning STEM for free, and the first 200 people will get 20% off their annual premium subscription.

Could a micro turbine generator fueled by hydrogen be an alternative to batteries? GE has large hydrogen turbine generators already, could we see a suitcase-sized hydrogen power pack system used as a clean energy source?

Ojalá algún día este vehículo sea alimentado por baterías de estado solido, de sodio azufre, por ejemplo, pudiendo así desempeñarse con todo su potencial.

I imagine Lilium will eventually add capacitors to the battery system.

By this definition of "Jet Propulsion" then all propellers work by jet propulsion. Nice video though.

It is clear that Lilium will work best in a short take-off and landing setup. How short a runway will be needed will depend on the load and weather conditions. So for me Joby is the most optimal solution since it can do vetol and thus access a city location, which will be reinforced apartment rooftops that are also being used by helicopter operators. I do like the Lilium solution but they needs to go for airport setups which means just using the jets in an underbody configuration and no need for small distributed jet, just 4 large jets which reduce complexity and maintenance costs which simplifies everything. The battery can thus be used for more range since no need to hover. The analysis is telling them what market to go for but Lilium refuses and is sticking to the e-Vetol market . This is not going to work, thus the institutional investors have gone to Joby etc.

😎✅

I need a Zenlab battery for my 2000W scooter.

TIL: Nobody can define "JET". Also, Newton's 3rd law is true for all kinds of propulsion not just jets. Btw a turbojet/turbofan engine has 10+ fans. The Lilium engines have one fan. Quite the difference in compression and complexity.

De-Icing concepts need to be solved. And this will require huge amounts of energy unless surfaces can be somehow _treated._

Best way to learn something is teach it yourself.

Iya li, datang aja ya,

It is a ducted fan engine. Calling it a jet is silly. By your definition, a prop is a jet.

Nice that electric flight is moving forward for the good of mankind.

it would be better to go hybrid given with what battery technology is today.

So; prop planes are jets.

This video contains so many mistakes. The Lilium Jet is not a jet aircraft. I am sorry but I have to correct the video on this.

The reality = 75 miles trips the most. The revolution starts at the energy storage level, too heavy, too low power, expenses for multiple battery packages will be astronomical, nothing beats combustion engines, yet.

Dear Lilium designers/engineers, I want a two-seater Lilium jet and if you don't mind, incorporate into the manufacture of same a coil in the nosecone in front of each fan that will serve to harvest the kinetic energy from the rotation of the fan shaft in the form of electrical energy to be used to continuously charge the battery array. Naturally, this will result in unlimited range without ever needing to be "plugged in". Get on this right away a let me know when this relatively simple task is complete so that I may purchase one for say, a few thousand dollars, if that price is feasible. (tongue in cheek)

By your reasoning, technically all propeller airplanes are jet airplanes too which makes that distinction irrelevant. From 36 to 30 EDFs (electric ducted fans), increasing diameter by 10% only increases efficiency by 10%. By comparison Joby, Beta, Vertical, Archer, etc evtols have 3X larger diameters which results in 3X more efficient using the same battery tech.

I still wonder where these things are to fly from and to, if it's not going to be regular airports and not regular parking lots. Heli ports already in existence...I doubt would be available to these unless a helicopter was substituted.

There are electric motors not electric engines, and combustion engines not combustion motors.

Cool...dose it have parachute and flotation safety?

I don't think the rotor design is so innovative as depicted in the video. The small rotors would have huge losses. I can't see how it would compete against the archer evtol which would provide better performance and mile range.

Ducted fan = Jet ?

Water jet moves water, air jet moves air. Nuff said.

It will unfortunately be years before zoning and doubting armchair experts will be ok with city landings. So save battery power and use small airports and have vertical landing for future and/or emergencies. I hope this electric ducted fan aircraft continues to evolve. They could benefit by going to a STOL event and see what is working with currently flying aircraft that take off in 100 feet.

A birdlike design with hybrid electric range using ethanol and toroidal propellers and solid state batteries to reduce the weight a little more feathered wings wing tip winglets 3 on each wing bigger engine sets 2 on each wing and one built into the tail the tail feathers having a downward curl at the tips acting like a vertical stabilizer the tail drive system has the small ethanol motor and in horizontal flight the engine is turn off so that only at vertical take off and landing and when electric range is reached will it ever be used very little using very clean burning fuel two and a haft passengers which is to say a third passenger if they aren't too heavy like a dog or a light woman or kid or some bags packed a rumble seat would be good for this decorative solar panels suggestive of feather pattern on back wings and tail theoretically able to recharge the electric motors for horizontal take off and short electric range flight with horizontal landing so your not completely stranded without fuel water landing variant with floating skies and the solar panels have a scaly look to them instead 2 sets of 3 engines on the wings only for this version no ethanol motor horizontal take off and land only ,but still birdlike design just like the first if your landing on water your don't need vertical take off anyway and last but not least insect like design dragon fly one and a haft seat two sets of wings forking out front set longer than rear set tilt motors at the tips of each wing ethanol engine behind the haft seat in the body of the flyer no wing feathers or tail feather small vertical stabilizer at the end of the streamlined body hard thin land skies you could buy those off a normal helicopter kit solar panels have armor like pattern on the body only wings are white rounded canopy almost like the real bug small enough you could sell it as a kit just a suggestion AK

I agree that it can be called as jet, to be exact as electric jet. But this is not jet engine, maybe electric jet motor instead? Engine is associated with combustion IMHO

Ducted fans are not jets. They're ducted propellers.

109 MILE RANGE. HMMM??? I THINK I WILL JUST DRIVE BECAUSE I WILL NEED A CAR ANYWAY.

Doesn't burn fuel, not a jet. It's an EDF (Electric Ducted Fan).

A jet! ......that's pushing it too far, it would be fair to say fan, just like they actually state in the video.

Galvanic voltaic pile batteries aircraft reminds me of when I had an idea for a solid fueled jet engine so eventually only and editor in of Chengdu Sichuan took interest who put it in production for antiship cruise missiles and officially such an editor was officially rewritten as an "unperson to have never existed" by Beijing Central Committee.

They have given no test data to support their claims, a full seize prototype has not yet flown and their 7seater does not stack up mechanically or commercially. Way to muck hype about this aircraft. the supposed dates of the prototype launch have been put back time after time. The aircraft will undoubtedly fly but its range and commercial viability are greatly disputed Aeronautical data that they have based their prospectus on has been shown to be incorrect.

B

LILIUM’s aircraft is just so beautiful!!! Love it’s looks. For me, open propeller eVTOL makes me uncomfortable. It’s because it makes me linked to military aircraft. It just looks scary…

So it should be called an Electric Ducted Fan……Jet includes hot gas, the internal combustion definition. So it is incorrect to call it a jet. It’s an Electric Ducted Fan….your marketing team might want to call it a jet, cause it sounds cooler. But it’s not what it is….

53😊😅😅😅😅😅😅

Transition = Gee I hope this works

Shut up and take my money !!!

Is not a "JET"! It is just an Electric FAN engine. The term JET is used for internal combustion engines. The first engine was the TurboJet. The rest, TurboFan, TurboScramJet, TurboPro are all derived from the internal combustion "JET". It's just an electric motor with FAN! So it's called Elerric FAN.

Such a great aircraft design, but why bother with that batery stuff? It will be much better to make it hybrid with much smaller bateries for takeoff, landing and emergencies. On board generator would be real gamechanger for this aircraft.

It doesnt appear to be practical, one hundred miles is nothing. By the time you have got to the airport booked in, boarded, flown and disembarked left the airport to get your destination one could drive point to point in the same time.

How many times "specific" word can you count?? Top marketing bla bla. Its not efficent nor enviromentaly friendly. Targets only super elit people. Freakin expensive because not massproduced.

It's called ducted fan. Nobody calls it jet engine or jet whatever. You just trying to confuse people. O look, it uses force of reaction so every engine is a jet engine.

Its all unscientific nonsense. Especially the battery and propulsion part. An EDF is inefficient and that x 30 or even times 36. Where are the discharge rates? Where the capacity of the battery? Missing all necessary info. How many Volts? How many Amps? Running time aprox. 10 min.....range 5 miles. Anybody with some performance info? What a dream- for money

It is not a jet period. It is called a ducted fan stop playing word games to make it sound “oh so special it’s a jet” sarcasm. No such thing as an electric jet engine! OK you wanna call it a jet let’s see it do at least mock .55 in pressurized comfort.

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It is still misleading and disingenuous to call it a jet .

100 miles....not good enough......fail

That is NOT a jet aircraft. It is just a battery powered demonstrator that will never be practical. Stop wasting money.

These guys are like Jim Bede great ideas but no delivery, they talk alot but deliver nothing.

The world sustainablility is so cringe. In Stanley Meyers patents, he had a REAL combustion JET, that could be modified for air planes. He was killed by the oil barons. The hydrogen was the fuel after splitting the water. These new EV technologies are less about sustainablitly and more about control. Meyers technology was also zero emission. These electric vehicles will be so expensive that only the rich will be able to use them. And the amount of environmental degradation from the creation of batteries will render the sustainablity claim hypocritical.

BATTERY AIRCRAFT... NON-STARTER

I, Joaquin Perez-Lopez, literally INVENTED THIS EXACT electric airplane AND HIGHLY EFFICIENT BATTERY!!!!!!!💯😎👽👼👼🏼👼🏽👼🏻😇😈🤟🏼🧐🦾💪🏻👀🤳🏻🤍⚖️⏳🖕🏼🖕🏼🤩