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German air-taxi developer Lilium said on Thursday two of its subsidiaries in the country have decided to file for insolvency following unsuccessful talks with state and federal governments to solve its cash crisis.
The company's U.S.-listed shares fell 57% to 23 cents after the subsidiaries - Lilium GmbH and Lilium eAircraft GmbH - told the parent they are over-indebted and will be unable to pay debts over the coming days.
Lilium is now "reviewing whether there are grounds for its own insolvency as well," it said in a regulatory filing.
The company, among a handful of air-taxi makers that are seeking to upend urban travel, was staring at a cash crunch as it is still developing aircraft that is yet to receive approval to carry passengers.
Lilium had asked the German federal government to guarantee 50 million euros ($54 million) of a contemplated 100 million euro convertible loan from KfW, the German state-owned development bank.
But the company received indications that the federal government would not approve it, Lilium said. Talks with Bavaria, where Lilium is based, for guarantee of at least 50 million euros have not yielded an agreement so far.
The filing for insolvency in Germany could result in the company's ordinary shares being delisted from the Nasdaq, or having its shares suspended, Lilium said.
Founded in 2015, Lilium is targeting the regional transport market with a 250 kilometer-range (155 miles) jet that can carry up to six passengers, unlike many rivals which are mainly looking at shorter trips between cities and suburbs.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by Kell on Sunday October 27, @07:38AM (5 children)
Hi, I work in this area - I'm on public record as saying their design values didn't make sense, even back in pre-covid days. Their specific power numbers didn't add up; the boundary layer ingestion stuff was neat, but it wasn't enough to get past the enormous inefficiency of having tiny blown-flap thrusters trying to do VTOL and then transition. It was a pipedream like Paul Moller's M400 before them: it looked beautiful so people bought into the dream, never mind what the math says.
Scientists ask questions. Engineers solve problems.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Rosco P. Coltrane on Sunday October 27, @07:55AM (1 child)
Good technical points.
But there's another, glaring problem:
- If this thing is piloted, the size of the market will be no larger than the current market for helicopter taxis because the costs involved are comparable (license + aircraft). In other words, it will be really, REALLY tiny.
- If it's self-flying, it will not be certified, or even certifiable for flight over densely populated areas anytime soon. Hell, simply vehicles that operate on 2D grids - aka cars - are having trouble getting from A to B without fucking up on a regular basis. And unlike aircraft, they can stop right there and then while their computer reboots. It'll be a cold day in hell before aircraft prove they're at least as reliable as a pilot in anything but nicely constrained flight plans with full-blown airport facilities at both ends.
So yeah, if I was a elected German official and I was asked to underwrite a venture like this with a really sketchy path to ROI with public money - because that's what that is ultimately - I would decline too,
(Score: 4, Interesting) by aafcac on Sunday October 27, @02:26PM
Using this in populated areas makes no sense though. You're not going to be able to ever get enough of these going to make sense versus more efficient alternatives like subways. And, that's before you consider that there's products like Honda's Motocompacto and those various electric bikes, skateboards and scooters that are practically everywhere and can often be just picked up at the side of the road or carried with you. Those can be used pretty much wherever you like, and can be used more or less up to the doorstep of the place you're trying to reach.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 27, @11:03AM (2 children)
Unless this video is an elaborate hoax it did seem to fly though: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ywJWka1evH8 [youtube.com]
Which is more than can be said for many other similar airtaxi wannabes.
The real problem is as Coltrane puts it - the market. And sane regulators won't allow that many of such air vehicles per cubic+square km.
Would it be significantly safer than a helicopter for a comparable price or even cheaper? If yes, then maybe some very rich people might be interested. Quite a number of very rich people have died in helicopter crashes - and not even self-piloted.
(Score: 2) by Kell on Sunday October 27, @02:40PM (1 child)
Oh, I'm sure it's real. The problem isn't making something fly (check out the X-planes from 1950-1970 for many examples of wacky flying things), but how efficient and performant it is. The amount of power Lillium needed for take off mean that it had to hugely over-invest in power density, not energy density. Even if they used a clever hybrid of lipo cells and fuel cells or something equally complicated, they were never going to get the range/payload they needed. The market can be served by treating it like a helicopter, just faster - but it couldn't because helicopters were superior flying machines (including viz safety).
Scientists ask questions. Engineers solve problems.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 28, @01:09AM
If I were a multi-billionaire interested in stuff like that that's what I'd have to confirm before deciding whether to burn some money. If it's > 90% the resulting bonfire would be more spectacular at least... 🤣