Exactly. The main reasons for the way aviation works today are economical. Large planes are more fuel efficient and fuel is very expensive. When fuel becomes very cheap (for example because of dramatically lower electricity prices), this changes dramatically. Large, complicated, expensive planes stop making sense.
For short hops, battery electric is going to dominate. It's the simplest and the cheapest to implement. And unlike jets, smaller is more efficient for those anyway. Instead of carrying people in batches of a few hundred, transporting them in small groups would be both cheaper and more flexible. More runways / pads that you can fly to. Cheap manufacturing cost and mass production. Low complexity. And if we automate the need for human pilots away, these things will basically fly at a very low marginal cost (kwh of electricity + inspections/maintenance).
IMHO for longer ranges, there may need to be some fuel cell or combustion engine based alternatives. Hydrogen is one option. A more logical option would be methane. Much easier to handle, only slightly worse energy density (and well offset by the lack of a need for heavy tanks), easy to source both the traditional way or by synthesizing it. Can work in both fuel cells, piston engines or jets/turbo props. Even synthetic kerosene might be better (there are companies working on that).
The key challenges all of these share currently is 1) availability: lots of prototypes but no volume production of anything yet 2) logistics: most airports are not equipped for this 3) access to cheap renewable energy to synthesize the fuel or power the batteries.
For short hops, battery electric is going to dominate. It's the simplest and the cheapest to implement. And unlike jets, smaller is more efficient for those anyway. Instead of carrying people in batches of a few hundred, transporting them in small groups would be both cheaper and more flexible. More runways / pads that you can fly to. Cheap manufacturing cost and mass production. Low complexity. And if we automate the need for human pilots away, these things will basically fly at a very low marginal cost (kwh of electricity + inspections/maintenance).
IMHO for longer ranges, there may need to be some fuel cell or combustion engine based alternatives. Hydrogen is one option. A more logical option would be methane. Much easier to handle, only slightly worse energy density (and well offset by the lack of a need for heavy tanks), easy to source both the traditional way or by synthesizing it. Can work in both fuel cells, piston engines or jets/turbo props. Even synthetic kerosene might be better (there are companies working on that).
The key challenges all of these share currently is 1) availability: lots of prototypes but no volume production of anything yet 2) logistics: most airports are not equipped for this 3) access to cheap renewable energy to synthesize the fuel or power the batteries.