[lcr]

There is no technical reason why it can't be done[1], it isn't without its challenges though; How would you deal with the fact that roads are used by vehicles with wildly different heights? What about underpasses, is there enough space to fit the overhead wires? You would also need to make sure that vehicles in one place can connect to the grid on other places. It seems like overhead wires will probably be the best solution, but will only be implemented on highways for use on freight vehicles, not on cities or for personal vehicles.

Ground level power supply systems also exist[2], but would require you to tear up the entire road network in order to implement them, are expensive, and apparently prone to water clogging (which could perhaps be mitigated) without mentioning the fact that they would probably require either an autonomous or guided vehicle in order to reliably maintain contact with the rail.

So, not really, the limitations are mostly about cost and political capital.

[1]https://www.siemens.com/global/en/home/products/mobility/roa...

[2]http://www.alstom.com/products-services/product-catalogue/ra...

[Johnny555]

Your first point is already dealt with by electric railroads that run different height trains -- the wires are set at a level that the tallest train can fit under, and shorter trains have a higher pantograph to reach the wires. And since the pantograph is flexible, it can deal with varying wire heights.

Gaps in the wire for intersections and underpasses could be handled by having small battery packs in the cars. This also helps with the last-mile -- only large arterial roads need to be electrified and cars could drive the short distance on city streets on battery power.

One solution for in-road charging would be wireless inductive chargers like:

https://www.cnet.com/roadshow/news/qualcomms-inductive-charg...

Though as you say, the real problems are price and politics. In the SF Bay Area, Caltrain has taken decades to get funding for electrification and has faced a lot of resistance from some communities for the construction and visual blight of overhead electrification. And that's just for one set of tracks, electrifying all of the freeways would be much worse.

[lcr]

Well, that was not really my point about height, I was just drawing attention at how ridiculous it would be to see, for example, a sedan (about 1.4 meters tall) connected to an overhead wire that is any where from 2.5 to 3 meters (about the height you would need to be able to pass a swap body) in the air.

Like I said, it is technologically possible, but for most intents and purposes seems like a wonky solution, at least for personal vehicles, mass transportation and freight are completely different scenarios.

As for the other points, you are right, there are fairly straight forward solutions.

Inductive charging is definitely a good option, which has already been explored by transport companies[1]. It again seems to be that politics and money are the main barrier for implementation.

[1]http://primove.bombardier.com/products/charging.html