Vertiflite May/June 2021

LiliumGoes Big

I n the timeline of electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft developments, Lilium GmbH first came to widespread public attention in April 2017 with the release of a video of the futuristic, prototype, two-seat Lilium Jet flying around outside the Bavarian capital of Munich, at the Special Airport Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany. As has often been the case among companies in the eVTOL industry, Lilium has tightly managed the release of information about the company and its aircraft programs for a number of years, making it hard to assess the technical progress of its aircraft development program with its bold marketing and performance claims. Founded in 2015 by Daniel Wiegand, Sebastian Born, Patrick Nathen and Matthias Meiner, Lilium now ranks as the second company in the eVTOL industry to achieve unicorn status — with a market valuation of more than $1B — which created a widening gap between the positive support Lilium was able to attract from the investment community and the critical reports published about the company in aviation press and mainstream media in its home market of Germany. The company has been the subject of recurring criticism over the years for pushing seemingly outlandish performance claims without sufficient substantiation (or including sufficient caveats), and for not always being forthcoming with details. As opposed to some companies who were raking up hundreds of flights and saying very little (e.g. Joby Aviation) or flying a lot and talking a lot (e.g. EHang), Lilium was sometimes considered to have a “big mouth” — making wild claims that it seemed unlikely to be able to back up. In January 2020, when German aviation publication AEROKURIER and then Der Spiegel — Germany’s leading news magazine — published analyses and comments from outside engineers who concluded that, based on the minimal data Lilium had released, By Mike Hirschberg, VFS Executive Director On March 30, Lilium GmbH announced that it was receiving an additional $830M, and revealed the development of its seven-seat Lilium Jet.

that the company’s Lilium Jet couldn’t possibly fulfill CEO Wiegand’s repeated promise that the eVTOL would carry five people 300 km (186 miles) at 300 km/h (186 mph) with reserve power to spare. Interestingly, the comments made by these outside critics focused on the aerodynamics and physics required to achieve the published performance numbers did not seem to slow the flow of investments appreciably, with Lilium receiving nearly a quarter of a billion dollars just two months later (see “Lilium Draws Searing Publicity, Then Soaring Investment,” Vertiflite , Sept/Oct 2020). In July 2020, Lilium told Vertiflite that “In the last three months, we’ve announced $275M in total [new investment], which brings us up to a combined total of $375M and a valuation of more than $1B” — thus becoming the second eVTOL startup company to be crowned a “unicorn” (after Joby). Still, the public and eVTOL experts scratched their heads regarding the aircraft’s actual performance capabilities. The existing five- seat prototype had barely begun transition testing when it was destroyed on the ground in an electrical fire. Then COVID-19 shut down testing for the second aircraft (though it is finally expected to begin flying again soon). But in November 2020, the company announced plans with Tavistock Development Company to build a vertiport near Orlando, Florida, with a 300-km (186-mile) range; this was followed in January by an agreement with Ferrovial to develop a network of at least 10 vertiports across Florida. However, on March 30, Lilium made the stunning announcement that it was getting big money to back up its big mouth and build an even bigger eVTOL aircraft — its 7-Seater, which the company notedwas the culminationof five years of technologydevelopment across four generations of technology demonstrators. BigMoney Combining with Qell (Nasdaq: QELL), a publicly listed special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), is expected to add an additional $830M to the company’s roughly $380M raised to date. This is based on approximately $380M in cash held in trust and a $450M private investment in public equity (PIPE), including investments by Baillie Gifford, funds and accounts managed by Apparently, those who could see behind the veil of secrecy came to a much different conclusion than those watching from the outside.

May / June 2021

Lilium’s 7-Seater eVTOL was unveiled on March 30. (All images courtesy of Lilium)

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