World's First Electric Vertical Takeoff Aircraft

Lilium, a company in Germany, has developed a small electric vertical takeoff aircraft that aims to enter the global air taxi market in the near future. Engineers from the company have reported successful flight tests of this flying vehicle. It can carry two passengers and takes off and lands vertically. However, initial flight tests have been conducted remotely and without passengers. This electric vertical takeoff aircraft uses 36 small electric motors, with 24 of them located on the wings and 12 at the front. The high number of motors enhances the safety of the product, as it can continue flying even if several motors fail. The takeoff and landing processes are fully automated by a computer. The aircraft has a range of 300 kilometers on a single charge and a speed of 300 kilometers per hour. The body of this small aircraft is made of carbon fiber to reduce weight and increase structural resistance. One of the company's goals is to use this aircraft in urban environments for urban transportation. Daniel Wiegand, the owner of the company, states, "Our aircraft does not pollute the environment, has low noise pollution, and requires minimal space for takeoff and landing." The company is currently working on designing and building a five-passenger version of this electric vertical takeoff aircraft, intending to use it as an air taxi. They claim that in a city like New York, a journey that takes 55 minutes by car in traffic could be completed in five minutes by air taxi. The cost of a trip of about 20 kilometers with this aircraft as an air taxi is approximately $30, which is expected to decrease to about $13 with technological improvements in the future. The company hopes that by 2025, the use of this vehicle will become widespread globally. They also predict that by 2035, the number of vehicles in the world will reach two billion, leading to increased urban traffic, making flying vehicles a viable solution to traffic problems. Various designs for flying cars are currently being developed, one of the most famous being Airbus's flying car, named Pop.Up, which is a joint project between Airbus and Italdesign. This vehicle consists of a two-person modular cabin and a ground module. It operates like a car but can take off vertically when traffic is heavy. Upon reaching their destination, both the ground and air modules are taken to their respective charging stations to wait for the next passengers. Matthias Thomsen, head of Airbus's flying car division, told Radio Farda, "We might be able to produce this product within ten years, but many advancements are needed in areas such as artificial intelligence, flight control systems, navigation systems, and safe flight technology, and we have already started working on it." With such designs in progress, it seems that in the next decade, drones, flying cars, and electric vertical takeoff aircraft will become common for urban transportation.