Nasa leads push for electric planes in next frontier of cutting emissions

Flying on batteries presents major technological challenges but companies will be demonstrating their best efforts over the next year in California

Over the next year, at a research site on the fringes of the Mojave desert in California, Nasa will hunt for a breakthrough against one of the climate crisis's most stubborn challenges - how to eliminate carbon pollution from aviation via a new generation of electric airplanes.

Prodded by Joe Biden's quest to slash the US's planet-heating emissions to net zero, Nasa is corralling companies to demonstrate improved ways to power aircraft via batteries rather than jet fuel, with the aim of phasing in electric flights for Americans within the next 15 years.