This link (recently on HN) provides an interesting analysis of the options: http://spectrum.ieee.org/aerospace/aviation/how-i-designed-a-practical-electric-plan

This link (recently on HN) provides an interesting analysis of the options: http://spectrum.ieee.org/aerospace/aviation/how-i-designed-a-practical-electric-plane-for-nasa http://spectrum.ieee.org/aerospace/aviation/how-i-designed-a... It seems like a fuel cell could be a viable option in the not-too-distant future, but still comes with a good number of trade-offs...