A selection of other electric vertical-takeoff and landing aircraft :
Comparison by lift/power
– estimated from disk-loading (pressure difference across rotor)
The lilium is clearly inefficient in hover, but their strategy (see lilium blog) assumes “limited time period spent in the power-hungry hover mode” and instead optimises for “efficient cruise flight” and “low noise”.
However negotiating obstacles, to meet objective 1, requires significant time in hover and low-speed flight, and high power would require expensive batteries and non-standard electrical components that are incompatible with the objective of an affordable vehicle.
