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Re:Lilium – Electric vertical take-⁠off and landing jet by pdelbarba on Friday April 21, 2017 @05:23PM (#14169535)
I talk about this elsewhere in this section. Pipistrel tried this on the Panthera and the system complexity is enormous. The whole advantage of electric propulsion is it's simplicity. Might as well just use the turbine for lift.
Re:Lilium – Electric vertical take-⁠off and landing jet by nradov on Saturday April 22, 2017 @06:01AM (#14171805)
Yes that was exactly my point. Barring major advances in battery technology, if you want to build a powered lift VTOL aircraft safe enough for civilian passengers with useful range and payload then you probably need to use a turbine engine. Batteries just aren't good enough yet.