A gas turbine compresses air and burns it so that explosively shoots out the back The high-bypass turbofans used on jet airliners produce most of their thrust

A gas turbine compresses air and burns it so that explosively shoots out the back The high-bypass turbofans used on jet airliners produce most of their thrust by using shaft power to drive a fan that directly accelerates the air. Thrust from the engine exhaust itself contributes a smaller fraction. With electric ducted fans, presumably you would have a higher number of smaller-diameter fans. (That's not to say that I think that large electric passenger aircraft are going to be feasible anytime soon - I don't).