Excellent point; currently as fuel is burned off, planes can climb to higher, more efficient altitudes (known as a step climb). What's the performance penalty for not being able to do this as your batteries aren't getting lighter as the flight progresses.
One can imagine an electric aircraft relying on powered landing gear (as previously trialled by Airbus/Lufthansa Technik) which would further improve efficiency during taxiing.
The current turbofan engines are close to the size limits in relative fan size and bypass ratio without a gearbox, which adds cost and mass. (Only one manufacturer is in the process of introducing a geared turbofan.)
Because of no high speed jet exhaust and large area thrusters, these aircraft have the potential to be able to take off really steeply and to be really quiet.
There's also the issue of the mass of batteries not going away during the flight, unlike fuel, which will require maximum landing weight to equal maximum takeoff weight - this will impose a structural penalty versus IC aircraft.