Giving electric trucks an overhead line from which to charge/drive is actually really really cheap! I personally hope we will do it. But it's not an either/or proposition.

Let me explain in short thread.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/jul/27/ehighways-could-slash-uk-road-freight-emissions-says-study?CMP=share_btn_tw ht @LaurentFranckx

We already know the technology from trains. So that part is largely proven. What's missing is a lightweight pantograph on top of the truck that can be extended and retracted automatically. (So far they are expensive and heavy imho.)

With overhead lines the trucks get the energy for driving as they are driving (just like a train) but they also charge while driving. So After driving for a while, the trucks battery is not empty but full. It can then drive another 100 to ?? km on smaller unelectrified roads.

The main problem is the migration path with it's chicken and egg problem. Who will start electrifying when there are no trucks yet and who will build trucks when there are no electrified highways yet?

A big part of that chicken-egg problem is standardisation. Prof Rudi Beckers will probably have a thing or two to say about that when we start incorporating it into the NEON model. https://neonresearch.nl/academics/rudi-bekkers/

And some people will argue that we should use wireless charging beneath the road. More expensive and less mature but no unsightly overhead lines and about 90% efficient over a 20cm air gap by now. Prof Pavol Bauer and prof Elena Lomonova are my go-to-experts there.

So it's a really good solution that requires much less batteries. We only have to figure out how to get there.

So why am I so bullish on battery electric trucks? The details can be found in this thread. https://twitter.com/AukeHoekstra/status/1253989067823480832

Basically I think battery electric trucks have an even better business case and more optimal use of batteries than electric cars. And electric cars are already taking off. So there is a clear migration path to electric trucks. I expect that will happen anyway.

But if some government organisations 'see the light' and we start promoting this on a larger scale I have no doubt it could work, one way or the other. And I could imagine trucks becoming hybrids with the electric road as a useful 'range-extender', reducing the required battery.

So that's my take: I'm not holding my breath for plans to electrify roads to succeed since electric trucks have a much easier migration path.

But on the other hand: we have the technology and it saves money and resources. So why not go for it?

Interesting times!
/end

P.s. Received a private lecture from Patrik Akerman from https://twitter.com/SiemensMobility  ( https://www.mobility.siemens.com/global/en/portfolio/road/ehighway.html). Sector has already agreed on standards and it costs 2-2.5 million/km for a two way strip (plus some extra extra transformers when it becomes a big success).

Also long term costs of catenary systems under 20k (for trams it costs ~7k now) and weight around 500 kg and falling fast. So it's even cheaper and can go much faster than I thought. Only thing that's lacking is a government willing to invest (not subsidize) a couple of billions.