And what if we put steel tracks and replace the rubber wheels with steel ones, for the lesser resistance and thus better traction? We could even then connect multiple semis together and only have a few provide power, that would be even more efficient!
Snark aside, we have those, it's called railways. Trucks should mostly be used for "last mile" style transportation, hence the upfront infrastructure costs might not be worth it
If it's for last-mile transportation, you probably don't want 500 mile range; at that point you're just paying more to reduce the payload by filling it with batteries. These are presumably targeting long-range.
> Germany has a small-scale test of overhead lines for trucks
And the accompanying ridicule for recreating a railroad, just with less efficiency because tires consume a good chunk of the truck's energy in deformation and because you need way more drivers than if you would just put the damn bunch of trucks onto flatbed rail carriages.
The entire project was nothing more than a smokescreen by the automotive industry.
"But the onus would be on the German government to build the overhead cables, which cost an estimated 2.5 million euros per kilometer, or about $5 million per mile."
“Numerous studies have come to the conclusion that overhead cable trucks, despite the high infrastructure costs, are the most cost-effective option,” the ministry said.
A truck that can drive on roads and also hop on rails sounds much more complex than an EV truck that can charge from an electric line above highway when available.
Sorry, can't find anything in English on the quick. But loading whole trucks on trains definitely exist, is logistically not very complex and a major component of North / South (and vice versa) freight transit through the alps.
It's only really sensible for long distance transportation.
I'm making assumptions here. But lets' say loading the trucks and the wait until the train leaves takes 90 minutes. Unloading them at destination takes another 30 minutes (again, I don't know the real figures, but this feels somewhat realistic).
So, there will be a certain not insignificant amount of time being lost before the train moves. Time, which is valuable in the transportation business.
Another reason may be that it's really geared for specific topological environments.
There are few routes through the alps and they universally require tunnels (there are mountain pass routes, but those are closed in winter and partially inaccessible for trucks). Such a situation invites such logistical solutions.
Add to this that Switzerland is one of the main transit countries through the alps and that - with very few exceptions - trucks are not permitted to drive at night (after 10pm) or on Sundays. So, loading your truck onto a train and blitz from Freiburg (Germany) straight to Genoa by train may make a lot of sense.
The situation is not quite as ideal as described here. While it's definitely a goal to move transit onto train infrastructure, especially on the Italian side, still leaves much to be desired.
Snark aside, we have those, it's called railways. Trucks should mostly be used for "last mile" style transportation, hence the upfront infrastructure costs might not be worth it