The Allplane Podcast #114 with Lilium co-founder, Daniel Wiegand
UPDATE: as many of your are possibly aware of, Lilium closed down in early 2025 after running out of funds. Sad, but, aviation startups are hard. It almost surely won’t be the last eVTOL to go this way.
In the intense and very competitive advanced air mobility race, Munich-based Lilium is one of the top contenders.
In 2015, Daniel Wiegand co-founded this eVTOL startup just out of university and went on to raise over $1 billion in funding to develop his vision of a fully-electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft for the regional air travel market.
Today, less than a decade after its foundation, Lilium is in the select group of publicly-listed eVTOL developers that are already flight testing their aircraft and on path to certification.
It hasn’t been a smooth ride, though. Aerospace startups are super hard and cash-consuming and, despite hundreds of aircraft in it order book, Lilium has been constantly raising more funds to expand its financial runway and make it through to the much-awaited entry into service.
We talk about all of this, about the challenges of starting an aerospace firm based on an entirely novel concept, about the battery-powered ducted-fan technology Lilium has developed to propel its 30-engined Lilium Jet eVTOL and about the perspectives and market opportunities Lilium’s new aircraft is expected to open.
So, tune in for a fascinating chat with one of the pioneers of the nascent eVTOL era!
Download this episode from:
Things we talk about in this episode
Daniel’s background and how he started Lilium just out of university
Lilium’s vision of advanced air mobility
What is the Lilium Jet and what makes it unique
What are the opportunities and challenges of new eVTOL development
What’s ahead for Lilium
Resources
My report from the Lilium HQ, where I saw the first production airframe and flew the Lilium Jet simulator
The full-scale Lilium Jet mock up and interior at EBACE 2023
The 100-aircraft eVTOL order from Saudia
Lilium’s flight tests in Spain
Some snaps of the Lilium’s full-scale mock up from up close, outside and inside:
Podcast Music: Five Armies by Kevin MacLeod
Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3762-five-armies
License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Interview Transcript:
(please note that, although we strive to make it as close as possible to the original recording, the transcript may not be 100% accurate)
