concept – Page 2 – DesignApplause

upstart lucid air fully charged to compete in the luxury all-electric environment.

Jan 2, 2018

lucid air, an all-electric that evolved from a battery, now scalable for a broad range of applications including and charges quickly. in matters of taste, the air evokes luxury yacht or executive business jet stylishness: artful enough to remind us now tesla s is showing her age.

the interior design though really shines, less about aesthetics but spacial restraints have vanished. air is narrower, shorter, and lower than a model s, but with the interior space of a long wheelbase s class mercedes. this zero-emission car is designed for an era of luxurious limited space.

[ facts ]
concept > zero-emission luxury mobility sedan
power > all-electric lithium-ion battery cells
number of passengers > 4
drive-train > no details
0-60 > 2.5 sec
top speed > software limited 217 mph (*)
(*) maximum velocity of 235.44 miles on the 7.5-mile oval track / see video below
launch date > 2019

configuration 1 > 400-horsepower / 100 kWh battery / rear-wheel drive / range 240 miles / $60,000 usd / $2,500 usd deposit
configuration 2 > range 315 miles / no price yet
configuration 3 > 1,000-horsepower twin-motor / 130 kWh battery / all-wheel drive / range 440 miles / $130,000 usd
special launch edition option > first 255 of configuration 3 / well-optioned / $130,000 usd / $25,500 usd deposit

[ storyline ]
2007 lucid motors (formerly known as atieva) started with a battery and an idea. worth mentioning the tesla roadster (2008) was the first production automobile to use lithium-ion battery cells and the first production ev with a range greater than 200 mi (320 km) per charge.
2014 lucid began engineering an electric vehicle
2016 lucid launches all-electric air
2016 lucid becomes official sole battery-pack supplier for formula e racing
2016 lucid partners with samsung sdi to craft next-gen lithium-ion cells. sdi is the leading manufacturer of lithium-ion cells in the world. they also signed a similar agreement with lg chem giving them maximum flexibility to select the best cell for each application.
2017 lucid moves to new headquarters in newark california
2017 though lucid says tesla is not their competition, that audi, bmw, and mercedes is
editor’s note > we’ve been watching this car this since early 2017, considering it a best of 2017. this car seems so far along it comes as a surprise the launch date target is reset to 2019. the word on the street is financing, their current funding spread between developing a car and building a plant. they are also talking to ford. this car will help push the aforementioned ev’s to raise their bars.

pantone 18-3838 ultra violet (ahem) color of the year 2018.

Dec 31, 2017

here’s what pantone marketing spins…

enigmatic purples have long been symbolic of counterculture, unconventionality, and artistic brilliance. musical icons prince, david bowie, and jimi hendrix brought shades of ultra violet to the forefront of western pop culture as personal expressions of individuality. nuanced and full of emotion, the depth of pantone 18-3838 ultra violet symbolizes experimentation and non-conformity, spurring individuals to imagine their unique mark on the world, and push boundaries through creative outlets.

prince, bowie, and hendrix.

we do like the color – enjoyed finding examples for this gallery – but ultra violet has very limited applications. not a quintessential first choice for durable goods such as furniture. in an interior, more likely to be an accent and not a dominant color. and maybe not a very long shelf life, typically a year from collection to collection.

but then again this year, a homage to prince. and bowie. and hendrix…

a conversation with patricia urquiola and a peek at her nuez chair for andreu world.

Nov 27, 2017

DesignApplause spoke to spanish designer patricia urquiola in the andreu world chicago showroom during neocon. we talk about her the nuez seat collection, which obtained a hip award in the category hospitality: seating at neocon. the chair is described as enveloping, suggestive, warm and at the same time technological. made of injected thermoplastic, it offers different options for the shell interior: fully upholstered, with upholstered seat or with padded seat and backrest. the different bases versions – four wooden legs, aluminum star, five casters or cantilever – come with a range of ten distinct colors for the shell and numerous upholstery options for the seat and backrest. a versatile design, capable of integrating into any type of corporate environment and also at home. the chair launched at salone del mobile 2017.

[patricia urquiola] we’re speaking about a new product introduction, nuez, which means ‘nut’ in english, from valencia-based [ andreu world ]. i’m very proud of our relationship, one we’ve kept for years that’s grown into friendships. we now know each other’s approach well enough where words easily translate into feelings and shapes.

why do this chair? they asked for formal and discrete, very gentle, very easy. though the company does incredible work in other materials, they were looking for a new material not in their workspace portfolio. our discussions led to plastic and they know that my injection approach is always striving for little details that are a bit curious and distinctive. what evolved was a shell concept.

we liked the concept of one shell using two elements, because of the way the two elements, like two papers, came together, like in a nut. from the back of the shell the elements created little wings which felt natural and just right. we pleated the plastic shell for aesthetics and textures giving it a materiality, a sense of touch. compared to our prior collection called nub, which was very… crafted, nuez represents a completely dissimilar notion.

[DesignApplause] nuez is crisp yet shapely. very light and does feel good to the touch. what’s her character like?

[PU] both my company and andreu philosophies are similar on many fronts. we’re all concerned, about who we work with and the way we proceed. we work with nature with a high regard for sustainability and social responsibility. we’re efficient, we produce functionality, durability, timelessness and our work, well it looks like our work. and in the end i’m very proud of this project.

[DA] what’s big on your mind right now? what’s important?

[PU] this is a conversation about a process. a company gives you a brief, you give an answer and you work in this kind of duet. it’s a beautiful established way a designer works within an industrial project. now i’m not a young designer, i’m a mature designer who’s been working this way for awhile. lately i’m doing a lot of experimentation with a group at haworth contributing to define a future vision for the group, creating an umbrella over everything. // in 2015, patricia became cassina’s art director tasked with creative management.

in the beginning it was an object and then a collection. but now we also talk about the relations of objects and space, the experiences, the services the company can offer, about everything! i’m working this way with cassina, haworth, mutina. and with andreu world i’m not doing that but i’m a good friend and they’re accustomed to my opinions and conversations. these conversations are important because they always lead to something new.

in this conversational role, the designer operates in this huge space, to re-think things, to ask more questions, it’s so open ended, so many possibilities. really, at this point the only bad decision is not to try something. and we’re just beginning.

<strong>[DA] stay tuned. [ formafantasma ] (andrea trimarchi and simone farresin) while lecturing at the school of the art institute of chicago was asked if designers are important, is design important. simone said this… the designer and the design is not important in and of themselves. formafantasma’s projects are complete once they leave the studio. it’s rare to know if their projects are a success and are rarely asked to improve what they created. their business model does not involve the relationship you’re experiencing right now.

in contrast simone felt the entrepreneur is more likely to be important. there’s a degree of control over a long period of time whereby something important could evolve.

[PU] “design thinking”, for me a label used too much, has become like a big inclusive net over everything in the world of design. i feel one starts as a specialist in design, like an industrial designer. for those who grow into more systemic integrated spaces the space opens up to expand your reach over the project. the more aspects you touch in sense the more important you are.

we can be a kind of catalyst in between society and ideals for living. we’re not only solving problems, we’re also questioning a lot of problems. i like the idea that this is a new attitude for designers: question and not only solving.

the first all-electric supercar from lamborghini. the terzo millennio.

Nov 23, 2017

lamborghini is owned by volkswagen group through its subsidiary audi. volkswagen has pledged to pursue electric cars for their future. lamborghiniis one of the few automakers that has stuck steadfastly to naturally aspirated engines. it did introduce a hybrid in 2014, the asterion. the hybrid is currently listed on their website as a concept car. however, debuting in a few weeks will be the first turbo-charged lamborghini, a suv named urus. a plugin hybrid will follow shortly.

and now an all-electric powertrain supercar is being developed. the terzo millennio. from the official press release:

“the terzo millennio is the visionary outcome conceived by the lamborghini centro stile to express future design elements, taking into account the radical changes in technology and anticipating elements of forthcoming lamborghini design. an example for a very strong statement is the evolution and further development of the lamborghini typical y-signature in the front and rear lights.”

what we know: a brand new aerodynamic structure for the company. mobility will consist of four electric motors – one integrated into each wheel. energy storage to feed those four motors could be supercapacitors instead of li-ion batteries.

and the design: a very futuristic lamborghini-looking test tube supercar.

talking to designer jasper morrison about 1 inch for emeco. icff 2017.

Oct 31, 2017

above> 1 inch collection

we’re talking to london designer jasper morrison and the evolution of his chair, 1 inch. we’re in the emeco showroom. some of the questions have been edited for brevity and clarity.

[DesignApplause] jasper, is the new 1 inch collection better or just another?

[jasper morrison] big smile – it’s always better. that’s the goal. to get better. and working with emeco, especially with emeco, where only one product is shown every year…the goal is to look towards the future creating products which are natural descendants of the original.

we looked at emeco’s whole catalogue and tried to find the gap. we found the gap to be a more comfortable, better-looking stacking chair and how could we make this a slightly cheaper price point than the usual emeco chair. we wanted to stick with a square tube to keep the emeco language going, but maybe we could replace the welded seat back with a plastic option. maybe it would sort of enrich it a bit because you have this fantastic recycled material that allows us to work with a new shape, a square tube.

[DA] gregg (buchbinder, ceo) was telling yesterday that 1 inch looked like a very simple solution, but it turned out not to be so simple.

[JM] it was a hell of a lot of work. when you bend a round tube, you can imagine that whatever direction you bend it in, it bends the same. but when you try for curves which are going in different directions with a square tube, it doesn’t like it. it’s very difficult. particularly the top where it can buckle the whole thing. so we had to redraw it many times. the factory would try and do it and each iteration it was bad news again, that the square was not liking to bend that way.

[DA] were you getting worried?

[JM] yes. and then, slowly we got to something better in the last minute and we were able to show prototypes in milan (2017). now we’re working on perfecting them.

[DA] this all sounds very technical and innovative. was there an ‘aha’ moment?

[JM] there were many ‘oh no’ moments. it was much more slow. it went on through the whole year, really. i think we can be fairly sure that there won’t be too many copies. don’t think anybody would have the patience.

[DA] when did this project begin?

[JM] we started before milan 2016. we only had fifteen months. some of that was for the design. we didn’t get the first prototype until after milan last year. but now we have a collection featuring a chair and armchair, stools in three heights, and café and bar tables.

[DA] gregg also made mention that 1 inch represents emeco’s first stab utilizing upholstery. how did that happen?

[JM] emeco is very unctuous of what people ask for. after so many years of aluminum it soon became clear that we needed plastic and wood. now we need upholstery too.

[DA] you’ve made very hard materials look soft with 1 inch. the upholstery makes things even softer and is unusual, i can’t describe the feeling. not sure if it’s foam or air. what is it?

above> 1 inch collection | emeco | 2017

[JM] we’re using the original seat itself and plopping upholstery and foam on top of it. you know very well if you sit on something flat, it’s not very comfortable. you sit on something curved, it gets better. if you add a little bit of upholstery to something curved, it improves again. we use very little upholstery to make it a comfortable chair.

[DA] i wanted to talk a bit about the process as well. does your design process drive the solution or is the problem driving the process?

[JM] with both this project and the previous one shown the year before, we do it really by conversation. with the first chair i’m asking a lot of questions like: how could we make a more affordable emeco chair with the material and supplies they already have. are there limitations, things we can’t do without losing quality while using recycled materials? the 1 inch frames are recycled aluminum and the seats are 100% reclaimed wood polypropylene, sustainable plywood or upholstered.

for me, before i start the design, it’s much easier as a designer to talk your way into a project than to sit down with a piece of paper and then say voila! then give your paper to the manager. i like designing by discussion with the players, the team thing, you know? a project doesn’t happen without the company, structure, and the engineers. usually the result is very different from the one which was drawn from the beginning.

[DA] a good designer needs a good client.

[JM] absolutely.

[DA] how do you interface with the team?

[JM] this project provides an interesting example. one member from our team in london was just at the emeco factory for three days. up till that point no one from our office had a face-to-face with emeco’s factory. we were just wiring 3d drawings back and forth. once we got through the milan thing, we decided they should meet and gregg flew him over. he arrived with all these templates to make it happen and had their first very physical discussion about what shape the chair should be.

[DA] are you computer savvy or are you still a sketcher?

above > alfi shell drawing | emeco | 2015

[JM] i’m still stuck on the 2d program. i pay other people to do the clever bit. i have sent sketches occasionally to start a project, but not usually. i usually do a precise 2d drawing that is the basis for the first 2d digital. after we make a few 2d adjustments we then go 3d and i can then spin it around and check it from every angle. typically i’ll put the old one beside the new one. there’s quite few back and forth making adjustments. but i don’t need to do any more drawings after the first one.

[DA] what’s the prototype stage like?

[JM] the first prototype is quite tiny. the next one we can probably sit on and we begin making functional adjustments. (we’re sitting on prototypes during our chat and jasper says to me…) ‘is the armrest high enough?’ i see you leaning. we’re thinking about raising it up a bit.’

[DA] i am, but maybe it depends on who’s sitting in the chair. the thing is, i’m really interested in what we’re seeing, but i’m not very conscious of the chair. and are you watching everyone who sits in the chair during this prototype stage?

[JM] that’s good about taking the chair itself out of the equation. and yes, by now we have probably twenty other 3d examples of chairs and we know how comfortable each is. like the alfi chair, it’s one of the most comfortable we’ve ever done.

above> alfi | 2015

[DA] let’s switch gears if you don’t mind. what are you thinking about and where are you in this point in time? whether personal or professional? are some things bothering you? tell us a bit about what’s going on up there.

[JM] ok. well i’m beginning to feel a bit senior in the business. it happens. and that’s ok. i’m quite liking it. i have a fairly controlled intake of work. i’m trying not to do too much. i’m really happy working with emeco because of gregg’s paired down vision of what a company needs to be. one product a year. lots of discussion. trying to do things very well and professionally. also his insistence on recycling materials and sustainability and longevity. it feels good. we get on really well.

on another side, i don’t know if you’ve been to my shop in london, but that’s a different kind of thing. it’s very experimental for us because we buy objects from different places and put them in the shop. anybody can come and buy them.

so having the shop has been a learning process and a hobby. we don’t need to make any money with the shop and we don’t really make any money with it. but it gives a lot to the project.

[DA] what do you mean?

[JM] it’s really nice to meet the customers. and the shop setting, it’s an interesting dynamic, we get a lot of feedback that way

[DA] alright, so you have the shop. that’s the experimental thing. anything else?

[JM] i stopped doing any teaching, but i like to do books. tomorrow night i actually have a book thing going on if you’d like to come. i’ve done three books in the last four years. one of them was on my work, one was on my photos and this one i’m launching tomorrow is on the collection of the portuguese ethnology knowledge museum, which is truly amazing. there are so many nice things which were done with nearly no facilities. things made in little villages in portugal. it’s a bit like that book architecture without architects. it’s a kind of product world version of that.

[ jasper morrison ] [ emeco ] [ emeco’s time-tested material ] [ emeco’s 77-step process ]

revoliutsiia! demonstratisiia! soviet art put to the test.

Oct 25, 2017

revoliutsiia! demonstratisiia! soviet art put to the test | the art institute of chicago | 29 october 2017 > 15 january 2018

the october revolution of 1917 changed the course of world history; it also turned russia into a showcase filled with models. every object and sphere of activity had to demonstrate how society could be remade according to revolutionary principles. it would take intensive experimentation and discussion to determine the shape of this unprecedented society. to be realized in any concrete way, communism had to be modeled and put on display.

revoliutsiia! demonstratisiia! soviet art put to the test accordingly fills regenstein hall with ten model displays from the early soviet era. each of these sections holds rare works of art and features expert, life-size reconstructions of early soviet display objects or spaces, commissioned especially for this exhibition.

it’s well documented that the russian art scene, beginning c 1895 and leading up to a 1917 communist revolution, was an avante garde, graphically primed, and prolific force. movements included neo-primitivism, rayonism, cubofuturism, italian futurism, and the first abstract constructivist and suprematist paintings. artists included mikhail larionov, natalia goncharova, aristarkh lentulov, lyubov popova, olga rozanova, el lissitzky, vladmir tatlin, kazimir malevich, alexander rodchenko, wassily kandinsky. kandinsky would later join the bauhaus design faculty, as well as hungarian artist lászló moholy-nagy who was inspired by the constructivists.

artists were asked to remake society according to revolutionary principles – to find new answers to old questions.

the revolution not only incited a political / social movement, but also inspired two monumental design genres – russian contructivism and in 1919, weimar, germany, the founding of the bauhaus. constructivism would dominate the graphic messaging for the revolution. constructivism would also evolve into an iconic bauhaus style.

the art institute of chicago presents ten displays containing nearly 550 works, the largest exhibition of soviet art to take place in the united states in 25 years. visitors have the opportunity to explore the trajectory of early soviet art in all its forms and consider what it tells us about socially minded art now.

revoliutsiia! demonstratsiia! soviet art put to the test is organized by the art institute of chicago and the v-a-c foundation.

ventura lambrate is dead 2010-17. long live ventura. milan design week.

Oct 18, 2017

one of main venues in recent years during milan’s annual design week in april, ventura lambrate, has shut down. the crowds and content that came to the area has come with a price. gentrification. “the success of ventura lambrate also meant that the area came into development,” said margriet vollenberg, founder and curator of ventura projects.

when art and design activity goes up in an area the rents go up and the art galleries and showrooms relocate. a few big brands come and stay but the economics hit the emerging talent most. in addition to rent increases, the development brought in happenings that didn’t align with vollenberg’s vision making it very difficult to curate and maintain the quality the visitors have grown accustom to.

in 2018 a new venue will emerge, ventura future. the site, the milanese liberty house, futurdome. once the meeting place of world renowned artists such as carlo belloli, filippo tommaso marinetti and fortunato depero who together with giacomo balla and umberto boccioni, were a part of the futurist movement. the historical building has been restored along the lines of the futuristic ideals and has over 1400 square meters to exhibit the best of the best in contemporary design. “of course a new location means a new way of presenting and exhibiting. however ventura future will be all about offering a platform for emerging talents and independent labels.

above> ventura lambrate 2017 from ventura projects.

above> ventura lambrate 2010 from robert andriessen.

renault and central saint martins competition unveils car of the future at designjunction 2017.

Sep 21, 2017

above> the float | yuchen cai | winner of the renault and central saint martins ual competition / see below for winning details

it’s good to see car companies support design with their incredible technologies, vision, and a little sex appeal here and there. this year, another example of this support: groupe renault became the designjunction london headline sponsor. renault has been making cars since 1898. today it’s an international multi-brand group, selling more than 3.18 million vehicles in 125 countries in 2016. to meet the major technological challenges of the future the group is harnessing its three brands, renault, dacia and renault samsung motors, together with electric vehicles and the unique alliance with nissan. with a new team in formula 1 and a strong commitment to formula e, renault sees motorsport as a vector of innovation and brand awareness.

since 2010, anthony lo, vice-president, exterior design, has been at the forefront of the global design-led reinvention of the groupe renault brands. in 2017, for the second year, group renault partners and challenges with central saint martins master candidates in industrial design to a competition to design cars for a changing transport landscape. the winner to spend two weeks with senior designers at renault’s design studios in paris. lo returns to lead the judging panel. central saint martins, located in king’s cross, is internationally renowned for the creative energy of it’s students. alumni include: alexander mcqueen, stella mccartney, terrance conran, lee broom, bill moggridge/ideo, danielle de luliis/apple, antony joseph/joseph joseph, and antony gormley.

the competition was judged by two of renault’s senior design team – anthony lo, and françois leboine, chief exterior designer – as well as nick rhodes, central saint martins programme director, product ceramic & industrial design and nick clinton, creative director of fusion 2k ltd. the competition was whittled down from 15 students to three semi-finalists over the summer – stephanie chang liu for her flo design, which included three different sized vehicles for three different uses, tuna yenici for his emotive vehicle named vue and yuchen cai for her vision of vehicles moving around using maglev technology, called the float.

yuchen cai was announced as the winning student by anthony lo during designjunction 2017’s opening evening. cai created the float, a vision of a car that will provide a new way of connecting with people, a new form of mobility and portrays an idea of how drivers can be more open and social to the outside world as autonomy becomes ever popular. a model of this vision will be on display at designjunction between 21st and 24th september in granary square, in kings cross, london.

rhodes, said: “it’s a very great pleasure to work an important design-led partner such as renault. for the second year, renault has presented ma industrial design students with a major challenge to address. from a technological viewpoint, the prospect of vehicle autonomy is fascinating, but it’s also critical to hold in mind that such opportunities also present significant challenges to how people interact and their experience of future cities. recognition of the success of the projects here lies in their ability to describe broader conceptions of what driverless vehicles might become and how we may come to live with them.”

[the float – winning entry] due to its form and function, cai’s vision of the vehicle of the future looks like a bubble when in transit. rather than moving on wheels, the vehicle uses magnetic levitation (maglev) technology. made with transparent glass on the exterior and with silver seats, it has a futuristic design aesthetic.

the concept of the design is based around the car becoming more of a social space. in cai’s design, the car of the future provides a new way of connecting with people through tessellation, connecting with the outside world more thanks to the application of large swathes of glass and will also be ‘non-directional’ with the ability to move in any direction at any time without the need to turn around.

such is the design of cai’s autonomous vehicle concept, it allows pods for either one or two people to be made. through the geometry of these designs, numerous pods can be attached via a magnetic belt that runs around the exterior so more than two people can travel together. ingress and egress is easy thanks to swivelling bucket seats coupled with sliding doors, akin to those found on the london underground. a control on the seats enables the passenger to rotate their seat, open up a sound system to speak with passengers in pods connected to theirs and change the opacity of the glass – providing exclusivity or inclusivity according to the passenger’s requirements.

cai’s winning idea also included a smartphone app with which users would be able to rent a float at the touch of a button. similar to how one would hail an uber or other taxis in the present day, pods would be available to rent for one journey or for numerous days.

[flo] below > stephanie chang liu’s flo design incorporated three separate vehicles – one for freight transport, one for personal transport and a third for shared transport – a direction for the bus or taxi of the future. the initial concept behind flo came from the notion of a ‘seamless journey’. for stephanie, a seamless journey meant ‘a constant flow of goods and people across a city’.

[vue] below > tuna yenici created vue, a unique take on establishing an emotional bond between the users and vehicles of the future. inspired by the relationship between humans and their pets, vue will be sad to see the owner go after its job is done for the day or greet the owner when they first get into it for the day, like a pet.

[renault at designjunction 2017] below > renault’s stand space allows a rare glimpse inside the minds of their car designers with an immersive installation entitled life designed. the bespoke two-storey temporary edifice houses two feature projects. the winning model as well as the designs of all three finalists from the competition will be on display with interactive information on each. upstairs, the multi-award-winning renault trezor concept car will be shown in the uk for the first time and displays the expansion of renault’s design strategy. the trezor, with its welcoming style and being geared towards driving pleasure, complements the csm finalists design display downstairs, by embodying future mobility and automotive passion.

above > life design pavilion below > trezor

first electric vtol jet plane completes maiden voyage.

Apr 20, 2017

world’s first electric vtol ( a vertical take-off and landing ) jet passes maiden voyage with flying colors.

[ facts ]
power > jet
number of passengers > 5
number of engines > 36
range > up to 186 miles / 300 km
cruising velocity > 186 miles/h / 300 km/h
wing-span: 32.8 ft / 10 m
concept > canard with powered lift
take-off and landing > vertically

lilium aims at liberating towns and cities from today’s congestion and pollution, with people able to come and go freely, vastly expanding the radius of their everyday lives.

[ official press release ] munich, 20 april 2017: lilium jet, the first zero-emission electric plane capable of vertical take-off and landing (vtol), has completed a series of rigorous flight tests in the skies above germany. the two-seater prototype executed a range of complex maneuvers, including its signature mid-air transition from hover mode to wing-borne forward flight.

lilium is now developing a larger, five-seater version of the jet, designed for on-demand air taxi and ridesharing services.

celebrating the landmark moment, lilium co-founder and ceo daniel wiegand said: “seeing the lilium jet take to the sky and performing sophisticated maneuvers with apparent ease is testament to the skill and perseverance of our amazing team. we have solved some of the toughest engineering challenges in aviation to get to this point.

“the successful test flight programme shows that our ground-breaking technical design works exactly as we envisioned. we can now turn our focus to designing the five seater production aircraft.” the lilium jet is 100% electrically powered, so creates no harmful emissions, making it a potential solution to deteriorating air quality in towns and cities, caused by road traffic.it is also the only electric aircraft capable of both vtol and jet-powered flight, using its wings for lift, similar to a conventional airplane.

this advanced capability consumes around 90% less energy than drone-style aircraft, enabling the lilium jet to achieve a range of more than 300 km with a maximum cruising speed of 300 km/h. in flight, the jet’s power consumption per km will be comparable to an electric car. take-off and landing for a lilium jet only requires a small open space or landing pad on a building – alleviating pressure on congested roads. the combination of energy efficient flight and minimal ground infrastructure will enable passenger flights with comparable pricing to normal car taxis over the same distance.

a typical journey by lilium jet will be at least 5x faster than by car, with even greater efficiencies in busy cities. for example, a flight from manhattan to new york’s jfk airport will take around 5 minutes, compared to 55 minutes driving. the ability of the lilium jet to travel long distances, quickly and at low cost will also open new opportunities for people to live further away from their place of work. lilium describes this phenomenon as increasing the radius of living by 5x.

[ how the lilium jet works ] the lilium jet is a lightweight aircraft powered by 36 electric jet engines mounted to its wings via 12 moveable flaps. it is unique in combining the benefits of vtol offered by helicopters and drones, with the speed and range of a jet aircraft.

at take-off, the lilium jet’s flaps are pointed downwards to provide vertical lift. once airborne, the flaps gradually tilt into a horizontal position, providing forward thrust. when the wing flaps are horizontal, all of the lift required to keep the lilium jet in the air is provided by air passing over the wings – as with a conventional airplane.

safety is of primary concern of lilium, and the jet is designed along the principle of ultra redundancy: the aircraft’s engines are individually shielded, so the failure of a single unit cannot affect adjacent engines. the lilium jet’s power cells are designed to continue delivering sufficient power for continued flight and a safe landing in the unlikely event that part of the battery configuration fails. lilium’s flight envelope protection system prevents the pilot from performing maneuvers that would take the aircraft beyond safe flight parameters.

[ about lilium ] lilium was founded in 2015 by daniel wiegand and three fellow-academics from the technical university of munich. the group shared a vision of a completely new type of transportation. in less than two years,

lilium has grown from the founding team to a company of more than 40 world-class engineers, developing and building the first fully electric vertical take-off and landing (vtol) jet.

with an estimated range of 300 km, a maximum cruising speed of 300 km/h, and zero emissions, the lilium jet will be the most efficient and environmentally friendly means of high speed transportation. with ultra-redundancy by design, the lilium jet is also setting new standards in aircraft safety.

our five favorite new automobiles at detroit 2017.

Jan 12, 2017

above> 2018 bentley continental gt

our criteria in no particular order > alternative fuel > aesthetics > fun > innovation > performance > technology.

[ technology ] 2018 mercedes e-class coupe
this is as close to an autonomous car as you can get. wish they would 86 the polished chrome.

[ aesthetics/technology ] 2018 mercedes amg gt
exterior very un-mercedes-like in a good way. a lot of knobs to look at in the cockpit though rave reviews on user friendliness.

[ performance ] 2018 bentley continental gt
touted to be fastest four-seater on the road though… 0-60 in 4.3 seconds not so fast but tops out at 198mph.

[ function ] audi q8 concept
this car is very close to production. there’s some controversy on a suv hybrid of this size and price point but we like audi’s pushing the envelope. time will tell. an aside, almost removed the q8 from this list in favor of the kia stinger but we felt a need for stylish function.

[ alternative fuel / innovation ] vw id buzz concept
electric, driverless. the first fully-electric vw is scheduled for 2020. stay tuned.

[ detroit auto show / 8>22 january 2017 ]