
- 10 Sep 2021 01:50 PM
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Lilium Makes Progress
Lilium had a series of announcements over the past few months. Honeywell announced on June 9 that it was developing the avionics and flight control systems for the 7-Seater Lilium Jet, and was also an investor in the Germany startup, which is preparing for a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) combination with Qell Acquisition Corp., pending a shareholder vote on Sept. 10.
Meanwhile, Lilium resumed flight testing of its five-seat “Phoenix” technology demonstrator. The second prototype flew for the first time in July, after the first aircraft was destroyed in an electric fire in February 2020. The second Phoenix has upgraded battery modules and enginery system. Lilium said it has “carried various lessons forward by redesigning the individual battery modules and the energy system, as well as the assembly process,” for the 7-Seater.
In July, Lilium announced a partnership with Germany electric car battery developer, Customcells, which was spun off from the Fraunhofer Institute in 2012 for high-performance batteries, and is supported by Porsche. Customcells will manufacture the high-performance silicon-anode batteries for the 7-Seater; Lilium’s prior demonstrators used off-the-shelf cells.
Lilium also announced plans with Brazilian airline Azul to build an exclusive eVTOL network in Brazil expected to start in 2025. Lilium plans to sell 220 aircraft — averaging $4.5M each, for a total value of $1B — for Azul to operate across the network.
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