Lilium has revealed it is developing a 7-seat electric vertical take-off and landing jet with commercial flight operations beginning in 2024.
The German company also announced it intends intention to list on Nasdaq through a merger with Qell Acquisition Corp to raise capital funds.
The Lilium 7-Seater Jet has a projected cruise speed of 175mph at 10,000ft and a range of 155+ miles, including reserves.
Lilium applied for concurrent type certification for a high-capacity aircraft with EASA and the FAA in 2018. Development of the 7-Seater Lilium Jet began in stealth mode following this milestone. In 2020 the 7-Seater Lilium Jet received CRI-A01 certification basis from EASA.
The ket to Lilium’s aircraft is the underlying technology for electric vertical take-off and landing – Lilium’s proprietary Ducted Electric Vectored Thrust (‘DEVT’) technology, along with key control systems, aircraft and battery architecture. DEVT technology enables Lilium to scale to higher-capacity aircraft and keep noise emissions and ground footprint low.
Lilium has partnerships are in place with world-leading aerospace, technology and infrastructure partners including Aciturri, Toray Industries, Lufthansa Aviation Training, Ferrovial and Tavistock Development Company.
A launch network in Florida planned, with up to 14 vertiport development sites confirmed, to be built and operated by Lilium’s infrastructure partners.
The transaction with Qell values the combined company at approximately $3.3 billion pro forma equity value. Total gross proceeds to Lilium are expected to be approximately $830 million.
Daniel Wiegand, co-founder and CEO og Lilium, said, “We’re incredibly excited to reveal the development of our 7-Seater Lilium Jet and announce the next stage of our growth. This is a validation of all the hard work over the last five years from our talented team and our world-class partners and investors.
“Our vision is to create a sustainable and accessible mode of high-speed travel and bring this to every community. Transport infrastructure is broken. It is costly in personal time, space consumption and carbon emissions.
“We are pursuing our unique electric jet technology because it is the key to higher-capacity aircraft, with lower cost per seat mile while delivering low noise and low emissions.
“Today’s announcement brings us closer to launching our passenger service. In Qell, we have found a partner who shares our ambition for sustainable mobility and brings tremendous experience in running mobility and hardware businesses.”
The proceeds from the transaction are intended to fund the launch of commercial operations, planned for 2024. This includes the finalisation of serial production facilities in Germany, launch of serial production aircraft and completion of type certification.
