Loving Lilium (1) Falling in Love

Loving Lilium (1)   

The design of Lilium (www.lilium.com) really speaks to me. If electric, vertical takeoff, sustainable, and safe flying starts with the beauty of this design, I would board it immediately, both as a passenger and a shareholder. Wow, what a beauty. Loving Lilium!

Design

The design of the Lilium Jet is characterized by the almost complete absence of moving parts. It is pure beauty through simplicity. It is this same simplicity that brings with it the necessary complexity, as the propulsion and control are done by 30 small tiltable, guided fan motors distributed over 4 wings.

And that makes Lilium unique in the eVTOL-airtaxi landscape.

Lilium has the great advantage that each motor can deliver maximum power within 1 second, they are the quietest of all e-VTOLs, they can transport the most passengers or cargo, and they are also the most fuel-efficient on medium distances due to better aerodynamics.

The advantage of Lilium's design is further scalability to a larger size, from a maximum of 7 people now to a maximum of 19 people within the same Vertiport or helicopter landing spot. Important open-rotor e-VTOL competitors can transport a maximum of 4 passengers and their design appears to be less or not scalable at all.

Postioning

Lilium’s design has the disadvantage that taking off and landing requires more power than the open rotor concepts of Joby, Archer, Vertical Aerospace, and Volocopter. Due to the lower energy consumption calculated over the entire flight, Lilium is positioned more for regional transport and less for short urban-airport transport.

Certification and development costs

Lilium is working on simultaneous certification by both EASA (Europe) and FAA (USA). The EASA has classified this type in the highest safety class of commercial civil aviation with a probability of less than 1 in 1,000,000,000. The FAA seemed to be less strict but increased its requirements in 2022 and still needs to clarify certain requirements further in 2023.

Getting an aircraft certified is often a 10-year process, and the costs of developing and fully certifying an eVTOL can quickly reach towards 1 billion! This makes it clear that of the over 150 companies worldwide developing an eVTOL-airtaxi, only a few will make it to the finish line and enter the market. A market that is set to start in 2025 and will be huge by 2040 according to trend forecasters.

From dream to hard landing in reality

In the second half of 2021, several eVTOL air taxi developers went public in the final phase of "free money," thanks to our central banks. The (stock) valuations were far too high due to overhyped market expectations. In 2022, the hard landing became a reality. It closely resembles the late 1990s when the internet bubble burst.

This was also the case with Lilium, where the stock was around $10 at the SPAC IPO and the market value was around $3 billion. The harsh reality is that Lilium raised too little cash in the IPO and had to do another offering in November 2022. To make matters worse, on December 7, 2022, Barclays issued a sell rating with a lowered price target from $2 to $1, due to the risks of further certification delays and further dilution of the stock due to the annual cash burn of $250 million. The price target was reached in February 2023, and investor confidence is historically low...

Can Lilium take off again?

There is still much to be done under the leadership of the new CEO Klaus Roewe, who comes from Airbus. Shareholder Tencent Mobility must become active in giving Lilium access to the Chinese market, as there is still nothing noticeable there. The first 50 Lilium Pioneer Edition Jets must sell out in 2023. And new strategic shareholders must come in, with my preference for one of the German car manufacturers Porsche, BMW, Mercedes or Audi, all of which are located near Lilium. Insiders must also buy shares, which will boost investor confidence.

To love or die

Dutch saying goes, "the most beautiful flowers bloom at the edge of the cliff." Is Lilium already a flower to be picked as an investor? Or will the investor plummet with Lilium into the ravine to see it die there in all its beauty?

What a wonderful adventure to follow, just like an exciting boys' book.

I have already boarded, both as a passenger and a shareholder, Loving Lilium.

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Lilium - The Leaders Journey - The Full Story Book

You can find all single LinkedIn Loving Lilium articles here. But there is much more for inspiration! If you want to read The Full Story, you can download the Book for free on our website.

This book is about – you might have guessed already – Lilium. But it is not solely about the most promising and captivating innovation of full electric flying. This book is also about ‘The Leaders Journey’, a full-proof leadership model. I noticed how the Lilium Team follows this path and therefore I am convinced the world will be blown away when Lilium will be officially launched. It will be a revolution in the history of aviation.

Loving Lilium

So, in this book I am sharing the Lillium story, from the perspective of an investor. I instantly fell in love with the model and with the concept (hence the name ‘Loving Lilium’). I am a strong believer and therefore part of the so-called group of early adopters. I will be scanning the market to bring you stories on new developments. But I will also provide information from the inside out, because I was invited to interview members of the Lilium Team. So, if you are interested in Lilium, their sustainability journey, in electric flying and/or in aviation in general, this book will definitely be worth reading.

The Leaders Journey

This book also is about leadership and the journey towards a solid business with a strong business model. As an experienced business innovator I developed ‘The Leaders Journey’. The falling in love with Lilium (an act of the heart) was immediately complemented by the fact that Lilium is following a determined roadmap to success (a realisation of the mind). By telling the Lilium stories I will show you the powerful effect of the Leaders Journey Roadmap. You can of course translate this information to your own (to be created) business. The roadmap helps you finding your destination and setting new milestones. So, if you are interested in a full-proof business model, elaborated by the story of people who dare to dream big (or even sky high), this book will definitely inspire you.

A living book

This book is a living book in which Lilium and some of Lilium's customers will be followed for the next years. As a result, new updates of the book will appear at least monthly, featuring new stories. This book also compiles all previous publications. The most recent book is always available for free download at www.lovinglilium.com.

Menno van Diermen (mailto:menno@lovinglilium.com)