The future of air travel is electric

Each week, we spotlight a cool innovation recommended by some of the industry's top tech writers. This week's pick is environmentally friendly airplanes.

The age of emissions-free air travel is coming, said Sasha Lekach at Mashable. With the public already sold on all-electric cars from the likes of Tesla, a growing number of aviation startups "want flyers to believe in electric planes." At least 14 aircraft are now in development, ranging from the single-seat Kitty Hawk Flyer to Wright Electric's 150-seater. Among the closest to takeoff is the Alice, a nine-seater from Israeli startup Eviation that boasts three propellers — two on the wingtips and one on the plane's tail.

The Alice doesn't have a heavy gas-guzzling engine, but it does have a "very, very big battery" weighing 4.2 tons — about 60 percent of the plane's total weight. Eviation hopes the plane will be in service for regional commuter flights as soon as 2022.

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