eVTOL taxi startup Lilium is out of money and filing for insolvency

New Atlas ^ | October 25, 2024 | Abhimanyu Ghoshal

[Red Badger]

Lilium was slated to deliver its first two Jets to customers in 2026. Was.Lilium View 1 Images

Seven years after its first test flight, German electric air taxi manufacturer Lilium has run out of funding and filed for insolvency for its two primary subsidiaries.

That's from a regulatory filing with the US SEC, in which Lilium stated it had failed to raise an injection of US$54 million (€50 million) from the German government to continue its operations. The company had raised over $1 billion from numerous investors over the years.

That's not just bad news for the eVTOL company, but also awful timing. It comes on the heels of the US FAA issuing new regulations governing "power-lift" (aka VTOL) aircraft earlier this week. Those rules pave the way for aviation firms like Lilium to clear regulatory hurdles and bring their machines to market.

And just a couple of days ago, Lilium had announced its partnership with GE Aerospace to "build scalable flight data management solutions that inform the right safety standards and guidelines for eVTOL operators."

[Red Badger]

AVIATION PING!..................

[Larry Lucido]

Apparently they couldn’t find a way to recharge them in the air.

[PeterPrinciple]

it had failed to raise an injection of US$54 million (€50 million) from the German government to continue its operations. The company had raised over $1 billion from numerous investors over the years.

---

If money is easy, you make dumb investments

If money is hard earned you make wiser investments.

[CodeToad]

We learned with ATG, Atom Aircraft, and others that it takes $2 billion to build and certify a new airplane. These companies come out with tens or a few hundreds of of millions wanting to do the same thing.

[CodeToad]

Adam not Atom.

[blackdog]

Now who saw that coming? /s

[Red Badger]

Nobody wanted to invest money in a billionaires toy..........

[CodeToad]

That’s pretty much it.

“How many of these do you think you can sell and to whom? Oh, the very rich? Never mind.”

[ZOOKER]

Just wondering --- how do you build an "electric jet"?

Electric motor spins the turbine blades instead of combustion? Is that really a "jet"?

[Pocketdoor]

I counted 20 little fans on that thing. It
reminded of the Jetsons for some reason.

[Yo-Yo]

Electric motor spins the turbine blades instead of combustion? Is that really a "jet"?

Electric Jet is much sexier than Ducted Fan.

[Red Badger]

Details, details.........................

[bgill]

Working with only 1 billion you can’t upgrade the game controller.

[Resolute Conservative]

So, it’s basically a helicopter. The term “taxi” implies it will fly through town picking people up. I can’t see FAA or cities allowing that.

[DCBryan1]

Rename it Thorium......

[Red Badger]

Lilienthalium............

[citizen]

Why aren’t they using the Spacely Sprocket proven design?

[Red Badger]

They would be sued by Cogswell Cogs for patent infringement............

[NonValueAdded]

Wasn’t this service planned for Tampa, Florida?