Last year, we reported on Lilium Aviation when they secured a €10 million investment from Atomico, an important global venture capital firm based in London. The Germany-based startup founded in 2015 by four aerospace engineers and product designers is developing the Lilium Jet, an electric vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft.

Today, Lilium announced that their full-scale prototype had its maiden flight and they released some impressive footage of the achievement. expand full story

Battery energy density is starting to get high enough to allow for electric air travel, and several companies, increasingly backed by significant investors, are now seriously working on bringing electric aircraft to market. Earlier this year, it was revealed that Google co-founder and Alphabet CEO, Larry Page, was financing two separate startups with over $100 million to compete in developing their own electric aircraft designs.

Airbus is also investing in a VTOL electric aircraft to create an autonomous, zero-emission air taxi service, and now another startup developing a similar aircraft announced today that they have secured €10 million from Atomico, an important global venture capital firm based in London. expand full story