Electric Shared Ride Jets
Brad Gryder
Lake Nona/Munich, November 11, 2020: The first hub location for a high-speed, electric air mobility network in America will be launched by 2025 in Lake Nona in Orlando, Florida. Lilium, the Munich, Germany-based aviation company developing an all-electric, vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) jet aircraft, Tavistock Development Company and the City of Orlando today announced the country’s first urban and regional air mobility network as well as Lilium’s first US network location.
The Lilium Jet’s engines – think of them as super powerful and complex leaf blowers that run on batteries – are embedded within the trailing edges of the aircraft’s front and back wings, which makes the wings look like saw blades.
To take off, the wings' rear edges tilt down, giving the airplane the ability rise vertically. For forward movement, the wing edges gradually sweep straight back.
“It’s entirely battery driven. It’s an aircraft that has 36 engines, and it takes off from a similar surface as a helicopter, with all of its engines pointing down. And then very, very smoothly, as if it was on rails, it can transition into forward flight,” said Remo Gerber, Lilium’s chief operating officer.
Using a ride-share model, passengers would use a phone app to reserve a trip within Florida and catch their flight at Lake Nona’s vertiport. That’s the term used for a base designed for vertical arrivals and departures. Estimated to cost $25 million, Lake Nona’s would have two flight pads and charging spaces for eight aircraft.
Thanks to Brad Gryder.
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