You place the batteries in the wings for reasons of structural weight. How do you keep them warm enough and not too warm?

A different matter: Contra-rotating propellers are very efficient, especially at low and high speed. Can someone develop an electric motor to drive them without using gears?

It takes the energy equivalent of 100 barrels of oil to fabricate a quantity of batteries that can store the energy equivalent of a single barrel of oil.

@pipertom Your comment seems to indicate you think it makes electric craft environmentaly worse than gas powered. The batteries can be used thousands of times, a barrel of oil only once. In addition every penny spent on these planes will be more money into research and development that will continue to increase the efficiency of these electric systems.

Pipertom: How come people always compare the energy used to make batteries with the end energy produced with oil? How about how much energy and resources it takes to extract, ship and refine oil? Including the steal for the pumps and derricks and super tankers etc...

Now all we need is a zero-emission way to generate electricity.

If cooling is needed, excess heat means wasted energy. Isn't an electric motor 95%+ efficient? What am I missing?

It would be sort of cool if this Dr. Jake Whitehead was related to Gustave Albin Whitehead who did the first motorized flight in the world. (No, it wasn't the Wright brothers.)

As Captain Picard always said...'Make it so number one'.
The future belongs to electric aviation and Jets will become useless except for long distance transatlantic flights.
The quiet electrics can take off and land anywhere without bothering the people who live nearby--airports can be in the center of the city with long haul airports located far away from city centers.

F. Tuijn, you would need two electric motors.