Lilium aims to build 400 air taxis a year, seek grants

Lilium NV

28/09/2022 14:23

PARIS, Sept 28 (Reuters) - German air taxi developer
Lilium Air Mobility plans to set up industrial capacity to make
some 400 of its electrically powered Lilium Jet flying shuttles
a year, while tapping schemes that provide public research
support, its new chief executive said.
    Lilium  LILM.O  is competing in a crowded market for
electric Vertical Take-Off and Landing (eVTOL) vehicles, hoping
to replace road trips or short hops by aircraft or helicopters.
    But the challenges of securing certification and funding the
innovations such as fresh battery technology have weighed on the
new sector. Lilium shares have fallen 73% so far this year.
    "I am pushing hard (for) a production system for 400
aircraft. And if by good luck one day, we need 800 we will just
duplicate it, not here (in Germany)...but where the big markets
are," former Airbus  AIR.PA  executive Klaus Roewe told Reuters.
    Roewe joined the Bavarian start-up in August after
experiencing what he described to Lilium's shareholders on
Wednesday as the "manufacturing hell" of ramping up production
of larger planes as head of the A320-family programme at Airbus.
    "Let's size it and let's see how we have to design a
production system including the whole supply chain for 400
aircraft," Roewe said after a quarterly shareholder update.
    Lilium did not give detailed costs.
    The company is planning for the first time to tap standard
public sources of funds such as research grants, Roewe said.
    He did not say where any public funding might come from nor
what sums might be involved. Aerospace firms typically tap
national and European Union programmes to bolster innovation,
while Airbus has clashed with Boeing over the use of loans.
    Lilium said it was convinced its rechargeable lithium
batteries would meet performance and regulatory requirements.
    In February 2020 a battery fire destroyed a technology
demonstrator and led to testing delays.
    Roewe said the risk of a so-called thermal runaway could
never be eliminated but would be contained to a small number of
cells and remain well within certification criteria, which
involve the same tiny margins for error as for commercial jets.
    Batteries could be a general sticking point in certification
with rules yet to be aligned between different regulators,
according to aerospace and eVTOL publication The Air Current.
    The German firm plans a Lilium-branded regional transport
network starting in Florida and a separate stream of income
coming from bulk sales of its fixed-wing hover jets to companies
planning their own cargo or passenger operations.
    It expects to start receiving pre-delivery payments next
year as potential buyers place provisional orders, it said.
 (Reporting by Tim Hepher
Editing by Mark Potter)
 ((tim.hepher@thomsonreuters.com; +33 1 49 49 54 52; Reuters
Messaging: tim.hepher.thomsonreuters@reuters.net))