Ever since the Wright brothers’ first powered flight in 1903, commercial aircraft have relied on liquid hydrocarbon fuels. However, the need for greenhouse gas emission reductions along with recent progress in battery technology for automobiles has generated strong interest in electric propulsion in aviation. This Analysis provides a first-order assessment of the energy, economic and environmental implications of all-electric aircraft. We show that batteries with significantly higher specific energy and lower cost, coupled with further reductions of costs and CO₂ intensity of electricity, are necessary for exploiting the full range of economic and environmental benefits provided by all-electric aircraft. A global fleet of all-electric aircraft serving all flights up to a distance of 400–600 nautical miles (741–1,111 km) would demand an equivalent of 0.6–1.7% of worldwide electricity consumption in 2015. Although lifecycle CO₂ emissions of all-electric aircraft depend on the power generation mix, all direct combustion emissions and thus direct air pollutants and direct non-CO₂ warming impacts would be eliminated.

自1903年赖特兄弟（Wright brothers）首次进行动力飞行以来，商用飞机就一直使用液态烃燃料。然而，减少温室气体排放的需求以及汽车电池技术的最新进展引起了人们对航空电推进的浓厚兴趣。该分析对全电动飞机的能源，经济和环境影响进行了一次评估。我们表明，电池具有更高的比能量和更低的成本，以及成本和CO _2的进一步降低电力强度，对于充分利用全电动飞机提供的经济和环境效益是必不可少的。一个全球性的全电动飞机机队，在400-600海里（741-1,111 km）的距离内为所有航班提供服务，在2015年将需要相当于全球电力消耗的0.6-1.7％。尽管生命周期中所有飞机的CO ₂排放量-电动飞机取决于发电方式，可以消除所有直接燃烧排放物，从而消除直接的空气污染物和直接的非CO ₂变暖影响。