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First came propellers. Then jet engines. Now the electric motor is starting to reshape aircraft.

The world’s largest aerospace event, the Paris Air Show, was held this week. By the numbers, the electric airplanes on display were a sideshow. More than 400 fossil fuel-powered aircraft worth $15 billion were sold as airlines stocked up to serve the world’s burgeoning demand for air travel.

But it was Cape Air’s order of the first commercial electric airplanes that drew particular attention. The Israeli startup Eviation Aircraft took a “double-digit” number of orders for a $4 million electric plane dubbed Alice. The aircraft can fly 650 miles (1,046 km) at around 500 miles per hour (805 km/h) with three electric motors on the tail and one on each wingtip. The prototype carries a 900 kWh lithium-ion battery (about nine times bigger than Tesla’s largest automotive battery).

Extending 40 ft (12 m), the plane carries just nine passengers, but that’s fine for Cape Air, a regional airline in the state of Massachusetts that completes hundreds of short flights each day. Its 92 planes serve about half a million passengers annually, making it one of the largest regional airlines in the US.

Cape Air’s short hops make it a perfect match for electric flight. Batteries can’t yet store as much energy as liquid fuel, making them unsuitable for long-haul flights where they’d add too much weight. But for flights under a few hundreds miles (the distance will grow as batteries improve), electric propulsion is much cheaper: 10 times less expensive for fuel alone, says electric motor maker MagniX. With lower maintenance, faster turnaround, and more durable systems, electric aircraft can save millions of dollars for short-haul airlines each year.

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Originally posted by pianojuggler:
How would they deliver one from a factory in Israel to a customer in the US?

Maybe tie a rope to it and use a bigger airplane to tow it like a glider.

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Originally posted by pianojuggler:
I’m surprised the tops of the wings and fuselage aren’t covered in solar panels.

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Originally posted by Axtremus:

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Originally posted by pianojuggler:
I’m surprised the tops of the wings and fuselage aren’t covered in solar panels.

May be the expected power output from solar panels is lower than the expected extra load that would be needed to fly added weight of the onboard solar power system.