I think electric airplanes are still the more probable future. My understanding of the current problem is that the weight to energy ratio in electric batteries is still too high for useful flights. But this ratio is improving year by year, and very soon we will be near the number where electric aircrafts will be competitive with fossil fuel ones on some types of flights.
The energy density of kerosene absolutely destroys Amy battery tech we have and kerosene is used up, therefore making the aircraft lighter over time, further increasing range.
Mainstream commercial electric aviation is probably a half a century away (provided we don't actually discover something even better that supercedes it).
As far as I'm aware, there is no significant effort on battery-powered airliners in the industry. The only significant bets are on hydrogen and biofuels.
