by Donald Wood
Last updated: 12:02 PM ET, Wed September 27, 2017
Low-cost British airline EasyJet announced plans to develop plane engines that run on electric batteries instead of traditional motors which utilize fossil fuels.
According to BBC.com, EasyJet officials revealed the airline wants the new electric aircraft to fly short-haul routes within the next 10-20 years. The prototype for the new plane is being developed by an American company, Wright Electric, which has already built a two-seat battery-powered aircraft.
For EasyJet, Wright Electric plans to build a larger plane with a range of 335 miles.
EasyJet CEO Carolyn McCall said she is confident the new planes could eventually carry 220 passengers on popular routes to destinations such as Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam, Cologne, Glasgow and Edinburgh.
"We share an ambition with Wright Electric for a more sustainable aviation industry," McCall told BBC.com. "Just as we have seen with the automotive industry, the aviation industry will be looking to electric technology to reduce our impact on the environment."
[READMORE]READ MORE: EasyJet Puts Libraries in the Sky for Kids[/READMORE]
While Wright Electric was only founded last year, the support from EasyJet was validation that the company was on the right track with its mission to build and develop a "new energy storage chemistries" which would be lighter than conventional batteries.
Wright Electric officials said the new batteries would power the propellers and fans for the engines, which would be built into a plane's wings, rather than underneath them. The design changes would further cut the use of fossil fuels and minimize the drag on the aircraft.
The new batteries being developed would be a combination of lithium ion and aluminum air batteries, but Wright Electric is still working on making them strong enough to power a passenger plane.
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