Why not use a rolling takeoff as is used by VSTOL planes and helicopters when heavily loaded? The landing gear is fixed and there are no hydraulics. The promise of energy-efficient battery-powered urban aircraft By checking the box, I agree with the processing of my e-mail address and data for the purpose of receiving the newsletter about the website, products, services, and recent news from Lilium. 1 minute read. Each fan spins within an enclosure (or duct) and the moveable flaps tilt up during the hover phase (vertical takeoff and landing) then shift forward for horizontal flight (cruising). We can scale our aircraft architecture to higher payloads, while maintaining the noise levels well below regulatory thresholds. Lilium invested in Ionblox for its silicon-dominant anode battery technology, which it believes offers uniquely high energy and power density (12C with 3.8 kW/kG at 50% charge and 3.0 kW/kG at 30%) needed for hover and take-off phases, even at low charge levels. Its end-goal is to commercialize the Jet in 2024, assuming all aviation regulatory hurdles are cleared, and provide regional air mobility services (ticket sales) and sell aircraft to corporations, cargo companies, and wealthy individuals. You agree to do your own research and due diligence before making any investment decision with respect to securities discussed herein. The intrinsically stable aerodynamics of the architecture in combination with the vectored thrust propulsion system negates the need for much of the complications associated with traditional aircraft, eg. iPhone 15 Pro Max (rumored) 4,852 mAh. Prior to joining, I was Chief Engineer and Managing Director at Rolls-Royce Germany. In 2019, Lilium unveiled a prototype for a five-seat, battery-powered aircraft that takes off vertically like a helicopter and that it said would be able to transition to flying on wing like an. iPhone 14 Plus: 4,325mAh. Figure 1 is from the Lilium battery blog, where the typical power consumption during different phases of flight and the use of the battery's State Of Charge (SOC) is shown. Lilium says it has successfully developed, tested and refined the underlying technology for its eVTOL jets, DEVT, along with key control systems, aircraft and battery architecture. Lilium partners with CUSTOMCELLS to produce high-performance silicon Our research and reports express our opinions, which we have based upon generally available public information, field research, inferences and deductions through our due diligence and analytical process. This report and all statements contained herein are the opinion of Iceberg and are not statements of fact. The aerodynamics of the fan are designed to be most efficient during hover flight. The aircraft features forward canards, main wings, and a distributed propulsion system providing vectored thrust. The Development and Future of Lithium Ion Batteries - IOPscience We dont want to have anything to do with such dubious things., Lilium lags far behind Joby and will not meet its certification timeline. Lilium underestimates hover time that regulators will require, Lilium quotes battery performance numbers of an associated company whose management was accused of misrepresentation of its battery performance. We've written before about Lilium's tiny-fan design and its effect on the aircraft's efficiency and likely use cases. Lilium is likely to miss the 2023 target by miles. According to the specialist, regulators would require at least 2.5 minutes of hovering to account for these risks and doing so would drain the Jets batteries and slash up to 66% of its 155-mile target. Our choices recognise both the limited time period spent in the power-hungry hover mode, and the need for speed in the dominant cruise phase. Lilium and Customcells ramp up silicon anode battery cell production We also noted that Lilium initially told investors in August 2021 (see below) that the SPAC cash was enough to commercially launch our 7-seater Lilium Jet. [] March 14, the short seller Iceberg Research published adamning report on Lilium, calling the German developer of electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft the [], Your email address will not be published. This gives the Lilium Jet a unique competitive advantage. It has completed less than 50 test flights on its fourth and fifth (current) demonstrators. Equally, the noise emissions during hover flight must be very low in order to guarantee regular market access near populated areas. Among other things we have developed a high fidelity Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) code that allows for in-depth analysis of turbulent fluctuations by means of large-eddy simulations, see the snapshot in Figure 5. Ducted fans are well known for their noise shielding, asides from their aerodynamic efficiency advantages compared to open rotors, and the ducts themselves allow for the installation of acoustic liners. The pre-lithiation process, a key advantage for enabling greater energy and power density, inserts additional lithium to compensate for the loss of lithium during the first cycle. However, at the exhaust of the ducted fan we use a variable area nozzle which changes the exhaust cross-sectional area during the flight and thereby guarantees high levels of fan efficiency in all phases of the mission profile. A common misconception of eVTOL aircraft is that they must emulate the mission profiles and performance characteristics of helicopters - that they must be capable of hovering for a long time as a central feature of their mission purpose. The answer is simple: Yes. So despite 2x higher power consumption in hover than an equivalent open rotor concept, this increased power demand is compensated by optimising cruise flight performance, which only requires 1/10th of hover power and also makes up to more around 90-95% of the flight time, see also Figure 3b. Joby has conducted more than 1,000 test flights and boasts the longest eVTOL test flight to date. These fluctuations are mostly evident in the high frequency bandwidth of the audible spectrum. November 15, 2022. We could not find any other company in the industry trying to build a 7-seater and at 3,175kg, Liliums Jet is 1.5x heavier than Jobys 2,180kg S4. You further agree that you will not communicate the contents of this report to any other person unless that person has agreed to be bound by these same terms of service. The design of the Lilium Jet is peculiar when compared to most eVTOL peers, which use regular propellers that spin in the open air. . We will publish soon an additional blog article, which is fully focused around our battery design and we can't wait to show more. By checking the box, I agree with the processing of my e-mail address and data for the purpose of receiving the newsletter about the website, products, services, and recent news from Lilium. The main wing-span is limited to <14 meters to enable the use of existing helipads (approximately 14,000 possible locations in the US alone). Subsequently, only broadband noise is emitted, which arises from the turbulent aerodynamic fluctuations. Since it is admitted that the battery cell life is short, how often do they need to be replaced and at what cost, not just monetary outlay for them, but what do you do with them when they are dead? The automaker cancelled its contract with Envia on the grounds it was predicated on a number of statements and representations made by Envia and Envias representatives that, in retrospect and in light of more recent statements by Envia, appear to have been inaccurate and misleading. The battery sent to GM had actually been purchased from a Japanese supplier and not produced internally. Thirdly, duct and acoustic liners shield and dissipate tonal and broadband noise, and finally, ducted fans require less power at same disc load and thrust due to the significant performance advantages. In no event will you hold Iceberg or any affiliated party liable for any direct or indirect trading losses caused by any information on this site. Its market cap was ~$1bn as of 11 March 2022. It is fair to say that the team at Lilium have been keeping their heads down, quietly getting on with things. MUNICH, Germany, March 28, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Lilium N.V. (NASDAQ: LILM), developer of the first all-electric vertical take-off and landing ("eVTOL") jet, and battery cell production. The performance of battery cell development has rapidly improved over the past decades and today cells are available with energy densities of >300Wh/kg and power density of >3kW/kg. Management spent just two minutes answering retail investor questions. This means both firms must have sufficient test flights for certification credit to hit that target. As an independent premium brand, Customcells stands for customized solutions in a wide range of industries and continuously pushes the boundaries of what is technically possible through digital technologies. As a result, Lilium is targeting longer, inter-city jaunts as opposed to short cross-town hops where this inefficiency will be more of a disadvantage. The analysis tool and models have been validated with actual test data measured during the test campaign of the 5-seater technology demonstrator aircraft. Lilium GmbH ("Lilium"), positioned to be a global leader in regional electric air mobility, has partnered with CUSTOMCELLS, the German manufacturer of customer specific lithium-ion battery cells. McIntosh himself wrote: A common, and reasonable, concern that is often raised is whether current battery technology can support Liliums architecture and its energy needs. This concept is known as distributed electric propulsion. This is a key milestone in the certification process as the only tests, including measures such as flight hours, that are valid in the context of certification are those conducted using a conforming aircraft. We believe the deal is more akin to a marketing agreement: Lilium offered cheap shares to Azul in exchange for the right to market an established company as a partner. measured until 80 percent capacity. Most importantly, Lilium will need a battery that's capable of high power outputs even at a low state of charge. This rumor first surfaced on Weibo and was spotted this week by ITHome. Global lithium-ion battery capacity to rise five-fold by 2030 You represent to Iceberg that you have sufficient investment sophistication to critically assess the information, analysis and opinion on Icebergs site and in this report. flown further and faster than anyone else, accused of misrepresenting Envias battery technology, Airlines lend brands for cheap eVTOL shares - The Air Current, Hyzon Unleashes a Load of Hot Air with its 3Q21 Results, Battery Claims: How Lilium ($LILM) Takes its Investors for a Ride. Joby is targeting a 4,800 lb carrying capacity in . During hover, ducted fans have roughly 40% increased efficiency compared to an open propeller at same discload since nearly all blade tip losses and swirl losses are removed thanks to the duct and the presence of stator vanes. Silicon anodes are capable of super high charge/discharge rates and a solid 25% bump in specific energy, but they tend to die early, since silicon swells by as much as 400% when it charges up, and over repeated charge cycles, those size changes tend to add up and the anode starts to crack and degrade. Recent announcements have spanned the critical mineral and battery supply chains and involved mineral processing, battery manufacturing, and battery recycling. hover) time. The case of Lilium raises questions on the quality of due diligence conducted by sponsor Qell Partners LLC prior to the merger. This is an important step towards securing Lilium's future access to the high-performance battery cell technology that will . 1) sufficient energy density to deliver long range and 2) sufficient specific power to support the hover phase. Lilium NV - The Losing Horse in the eVTOL Race Figure 2 shows our 7-Seater certification architecture. None of its flight demonstrators have delivered more than three minutes on test flights over the last seven years. Lilium's implausible battery requirements get a second look The Asia Pacific region, led by China, accounted for 90% of the world's battery manufacturing in 2021. The hover performances have been computed using the disk. The physics of Disc Load means the Lilium jet will probably not be able to take off when fully loaded. Lilium and Customcells ramp up silicon anode battery cell production Let us first have a look at a simplified visualisation of the Lilium Jets flight path to enable RAM. This gives rise to two problems. Lilium does not consider security reserves in its calculations. Lilium Goes Big - Identity Digital A more detailed breakdown of the Lilium architecture, the aircrafts power demand during the different flight phases and the predicted range is presented in our recently published technology paper, which was recently developed with colleagues from TU Berlin, TU Stuttgart and The Whittle Laboratory at Cambridge University. Furthermore, in case of the Lilium Jet, we can exploit this even further by controlling the aircraft using thrust vectoring without any need for standard aerodynamic control surfaces such as tails, ailerons and rudders. Lilium announced that it would be working with battery startup, Zenlabs, to source batteries for its aircraft. With tiny, ducted electric "jets" instead of exposed propellers, Lilium's eVTOL aircraft looks incredible, but it'll place a unique strain on its batteries. It needs a. Kaita said the company had developed ways to make batteries more durable and believed it could now make a solid-state battery with a range of 1,200km (745 miles) that could charge in 10 minutes or . You can withdraw your consent to the use of your personal data and the sending of the newsletter at any time by sending an e-mail to socialmedia@lilium.com or the e-mail address provided in our imprint, or by clicking the unsubscribe link in each e-mail you receive from us. We discussed earlier the concept of purposely designing the aircraft for high disc load during take-off. With these short charging times, around 20 to 25 flights per aircraft per day should be possible in Lilium's . A good reference: normal conversational speech is circa 65dBA at 1 meter distance whilst a dishwasher is circa 60dBA. Velocities below 25% of the cruise velocity are used to decelerate only. Just before Liliums 4Q21 earnings call, retail shareholders submitted a total of ~50 questions for management, crowdsourced through investor communication platform Say Technologies; most showing concern around flight tests and certification (see screenshot below). This leads to an overall total hover time (on a typical mission) of <60 seconds in the most power-hungry flight phase. The physical footprint (its length and wingspan projection) should be compatible with standard helicopter landing pads to make use of existing infrastructure, notwithstanding the inevitable need to build new facilities. This leads to an efficient high lift flow field and allows extreme controllability during the critical transition flight phase. REUTERS/Miho Uranaka. The eVTOL market is already saturated with over 200 companies including aerospace incumbents such as Airbus looking to commercialise their aircraft. Instead of having large ducted fans which lead to structural challenges and increased cruise flight drag, this high disc load design leads to the freedom of having 36 smaller ducted fans and embedding them efficiently in the rear wing of our canard aircraft concept. Joby also seems to be working on hydrogen powertrains, since they bought the one and only company which has proven so far hydrogen-based flying is possible (H2FLY). [11] The target range is 280 km (150 nmi). I reviewed this technology and architecture in detail as part of my due diligence. We can comfortably predict an operational range of approximately 200km, with battery technology available today whilst considering operational reserves. This will lead to a battery system design for the serial aircraft with >300kWh of total stored energy of which we can access 85-90% for our mission profile to reach a maximum physical range of 250+ km including reserves. The greater the mass flow in the engines then the greater the lift generated. Lilium has shown right out of the gate that it picked the wrong technology; a view shared by sources we spoke to as well as experts quoted in the German press. The answer is simple: Yes. The companys investor presentation also shows battery technology has been secured exclusively, but no further details have been given on the source. Lilium has about 18 months before its cash runs dry, based on the average of cash spent ($65m) in the last two quarters $56.5m in 3Q21 and $72.7m in 4Q21 and liquidity of $400m at the end of 2021. They only wanted the TU Munich label as a reference to further polish their image, presumably, to attract investors. High disc load is associated with low lift efficiency in hover and a high power requirement. Next generation of iPhones expected to feature significantly larger battery capacity The iPhone 15 will reportedly see the biggest increase in battery life, going up 18%. This leads to aircraft architectures that are either (i) low-disc load, low range, multicopter concepts or (ii) more complex open-rotor, higher range concepts. The failure of Iceberg to exercise or enforce any right or provision of this disclaimer shall not constitute a waiver of this right or provision. You further agree to do your own research and due diligence before making any investment decision with respect to securities covered herein. Lilium Selects CustomCells To Provide Silicon-Anode Batteries 22 March 2022. Iceberg is not registered as an investment advisor in any jurisdiction. Using the Lilium Jet, an all-electric vertical take-off and landing jet, offering leading capacity, low noise and high performance with zero operating emissions, Lilium is accelerating the decarbonization of air travel. In the same way as the disc load is 10-15x higher compared to competitor open propeller eVTOL aircraft, the compactness of Liliums ducted fan concept leads to 10-15x less footprint.
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