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I also wonder what happened to some of the experiments California has already ran. For example the eHighway idea (https://insideevs.com/news/336589/first-us-ehi

I also wonder what happened to some of the experiments California has already ran. For example the eHighway idea (https://insideevs.com/news/336589/first-us-ehighway-launched-in-california-by-siemens/ https://insideevs.com/news/336589/first-us-ehighway-launched...), to let semi trucks draw power from overhead lines (like a train). To me it seems like a no brainer to give larger vehicles this option. Buses already operate this way in many cities. Why not put overhead lines on all carpool lanes and let semi trucks use them? It might even make a big enough impact on greenhouse gas emissions that we don’t need to have contentious arguments about banning gas cars or raising gas taxes. But like many good ideas, it came and went without anything more coming of it as far as I know.

Gibbon1 2y ago
Two issues I think with that are. High capital cost with a long delay before it starts paying back. Worse the capital cost of overhead lines is higher than batteries. What's happened to a lot of alternative ideas is they no longer pencil out because solar and batteries have gotten so cheap. Like solar thermal, doesn't pencil out. Wind and solar, plus batteries is cheaper than coal.
- blackeyeblitzar 2y ago
  > Worse the capital cost of overhead lines is higher than batteries. Is that really true? My understanding is that the bus systems that use overheads lines do so because it is overall cheaper. And it won’t have the negative issues of batteries (mining, recycling, geopolitics). Yes there is cost to equipping vehicles but it is a small number of larger vehicles which might make the problem easier. I would think the cost of the actual overhead lines is low (it is usually a small part of the costs for building rail for example).
  - Gibbon1 2y ago
    Best I can tell catenary lines are something like $200 a foot. Where a vehicle grade battery pack is $150 a kwh. The cost of a 250 kwh battery is then about the same as 200 feet of overhead lines.

Gibbon1 2y ago

Two issues I think with that are. High capital cost with a long delay before it starts paying back. Worse the capital cost of overhead lines is higher than batteries. What's happened to a lot of alternative ideas is they no longer pencil out because solar and batteries have gotten so cheap. Like solar thermal, doesn't pencil out. Wind and solar, plus batteries is cheaper than coal.

blackeyeblitzar 2y ago
> Worse the capital cost of overhead lines is higher than batteries. Is that really true? My understanding is that the bus systems that use overheads lines do so because it is overall cheaper. And it won’t have the negative issues of batteries (mining, recycling, geopolitics). Yes there is cost to equipping vehicles but it is a small number of larger vehicles which might make the problem easier. I would think the cost of the actual overhead lines is low (it is usually a small part of the costs for building rail for example).
- Gibbon1 2y ago
  Best I can tell catenary lines are something like $200 a foot. Where a vehicle grade battery pack is $150 a kwh. The cost of a 250 kwh battery is then about the same as 200 feet of overhead lines.