Dude, Who Plugged in My Plane?

The concept is familiar: Replace car journeys with high-speed, electric-powered travel for the masses. China does it with a famous (and famously expensive) high-speed train network. Last week, the Boeing Co. and JetBlue Airways Corp. invested in another idea: electric planes. If their bet pans out, travelers could start making their first trips in the Teslas of the air in a decade. That could transform the way great swathes of the world get from point A to point B -- to everyone’s benefit.

Electric planes aren’t a new idea, of course; evangelists have promised their imminent arrival for decades now. But recent advances, particularly in batteries and electric propulsion, make the possibility far more realistic. Boeing and JetBlue were confident enough in the technology to back Zunum Aero, a Washington-based startup that hopes to complete a battery-powered jet by 2020.