Technology Behind the Lilium Jet
I was a core engineer in a different manned eVTOL project, so have spent a lot of time thinking about this technology and watching the space. Lilium raised some eyebrows recently with their SPAC IPO valuation of over $3B, without having released footage of a single manned flight. The prototype is unique and aesthetically appealing, but my engineering mind recoils at the complexity of the design. The variable pitch blades, the adjustable exhaust nozzles, the tilt-wing vectored thrust system, etc. With complexity comes cost, maintenance, and exponentially increasing failure modes. Safety is paramount in aviation, so all flight-critical failure modes require redundant backup systems, which further increase cost and complexity. It's a slippery slope.<p>The eVTOL space is currently seeing a Cambrian explosion of different design concepts, but the first to see economic viability I think will be the simpler ones.