Airbus are working on more or less this concept with the E-Thrust.
One Jet engine providing power and thrust and six electric fans along the wings for additional thrust. They have also added batteries, so the single jet engine doesn't need to be big enough to provide full take off power + redundancy.
Currently jets require at least 2 engines, each large enough to complete the take off if the other fails. With this system you would need either the jet, or the batteries + fan to complete takeoff in the case of a failure in the other system.
Fascinating! Seeking out more information on E-Thrust led me to this article, which talks both about it, and where Airbus are now with electric aircraft:
One Jet engine providing power and thrust and six electric fans along the wings for additional thrust. They have also added batteries, so the single jet engine doesn't need to be big enough to provide full take off power + redundancy. Currently jets require at least 2 engines, each large enough to complete the take off if the other fails. With this system you would need either the jet, or the batteries + fan to complete takeoff in the case of a failure in the other system.
http://www.airbusgroup.com/int/en/news-media/media~item=be67...