Electric Age: The next generation of aviation is here

The end of the jet age is in sight. Within the lifetime of many of the readers of the World of Aviation, passengers will be flying commercially on aircraft powered in ways that are not currently viable: with electric motors, batteries, fuel cells, and certainly other technologies yet to emerge.

To start with, though, aviation is going electric. Compared to the gas turbine or piston engine, the electric motor is highly efficient, mechanically simple, and easy to maintain. But the batteries needed to power it store much less energy per weight compared to that contained per weight in the fuel of a turbine or even an older piston engine.

Among other constraints, that means that simply swapping out turbines for electrically powered engines with batteries is unlikely to be possible on a substantial scale, particularly for longhaul flights. Essentially, the battery-weight-to-aircraft-weight ratio rises with range requirement, although the amount of energy that can be stored in batteries and thus converted to power is rising with every technological advancement.