YOUR NEXT PLANE WILL BE A VOLT:

Last month Siemens and EADS demonstrated a new gas-electric vehicle capable of carrying two people and their luggage 900 kilometers--roughly the distance from New York to Detroit--between refuels and recharges. The prototype was not a car, but a small two-seater airplane.

The hybrid plane is similar to the Chevrolet Volt in that it relies on an electric motor and uses a gas engine as backup. The airplane matches the performance of some private airplanes already on the market, but it has two distinct advantages: it's remarkably quiet, and uses about 25 percent less fuel.

The achievement presages what is likely to be a big shift toward hybrid propulsion in airplanes. 

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