A promising air taxi (eVTOL) is being developed in Germany – the Lilium. Now new render images have appeared for a Chinese project that are very similar to the Munich model. The Pantuo Pantala Concept H from Shanghai is similar to the Lilium, but it promises higher travel speeds and uses a different technology.
To be fair, however, one has to say: All quadcopters are also the same. The main reason Lilium looked so unique was that nobody wanted to build an air taxi based on these principles. Both designs are similar with their distinctive manta ray shape, the large rear wing and the benches with the small electric nozzles along the wings. But there are also big differences. For take-off and landing, Pantala tilts the entire wing, the Lilium jet only moves the nozzles. Lilium works with 36 mini jet engines, Pantula is powered by 22 propeller fans. The large number of engines creates a high level of drive redundancy and ensures greater safety.
The fans should consume less energy when hovering, so Pantala Concept H reaches a speed of 300 km / h. That’s a little more than Lilium’s 280 km / h. The Munich air taxi is supposed to transport seven people, the Chinese model only five. Both models indicate a range of 250 kilometers. The Pantala Concept H uses lithium-ion batteries and has 22 large-diameter electric deflection fans instead of open rotors.
The German company wants to get its taxi up and running by 2024, the Pantala Concept H should go into production a little later, namely in 2027. Pantuo Aviation plans to carry out flight tests with a smaller prototype this year, and construction of a prototype of the large aircraft is to begin in 2022. The name Pantala takes on two Greek terms: “Pan” means something like “everything”, and “Talaria” are the winged sandals of the messenger of the gods Hermès, son of Zeus.