Lilium’s 7-Seater Jet is designed for regional air mobility and will have ranges between 40 kilometers and 200 kilometers. (Lilium)
The German electric air taxi company Lilium announced a new partnership with battery manufacturer CUSTOMCELLS to provide batteries for Lilium’s 7-Seater Jet, the company said in a July 28 press release.
This partnership will allow for the industrialized production of lithium-ion batteries for Lilium’s air taxi operations. CUSTOMCELLS will use Lilium’s licensed technology to produce batteries for the 7-Seater Jet at its Tübingen location, according to the release. CUSTOMCELLS will work with an equipment manufacturer, Manz AG, on this effort.
“With their extensive experience of designing and producing customized high-performance Li-Ion batteries for automotive and aviation applications, CUSTOMCELLS is an ideal partner to manufacture aerospace-quality battery cells for our jet,” Daniel Wiegand, co-founder and CEO of Lilium, said in a statement. “They have already set up manufacturing of silicon anode batteries for several of their customers. We are excited to be working alongside another next-generation company like CUSTOMCELLS.”
CUSTOMCELLS announced a recent partnership with Porsche to produce silicon-anode batteries, according to the release.
“On the basis of flexible manufacturing concepts, CUSTOMCELLS guarantees high-tech solutions for special applications and tailor-made production of electrodes, electrolytes and battery cells with an outstanding quality and traceability approach, depending on the customer’s requirements profile,” Leopold König, co-founder and CEO of CUSTOMCELLS, said in a statement. “This partnership will bring two leading German innovators together and underlines the strength of the German manufacturing and tech ecosystem.”
Lilium’s 7-Seater Jet is designed for regional air mobility and will have ranges between 40 kilometers and 200 kilometers. The aircraft will use a distributed propulsion system with 36 embedded ducted fans. Lilium is partnering with Honeywell for avionics and flight control systems for the 7-Seater Jet.
The 7-Seater Jet will operate in Europe and the U.S. Lilium has a partnership with Luxaviation Group to build out an eVTOL network in Europe and has announced plans to develop up to 14 vertiports in Florida. Lilium is expecting to certify its aircraft in 2024.