There are so many things that the cost of charging highway lanes should be evaluated. If it works, it solves:
1) The weight, cost, and impact of many people requiring batteries with 200+ miles of range. The lighter the car, the less battery to move it, and the cheaper the car. EVs should be affordable for everyone who needs them.
2) The charging capacity of keeping all those larger batteries topped off. Save the energy consumption for where it's needed!
3) The time cost of even fast-charging stations, though supercapacitors would solve this if they achieve higher energy densities too.
4) The people the article notes as having switched back to gas from EV.
There would be other ways to tunnel through the cost barrier. Renewable energy, without a lot of battery backup, could power these roads. Stopping for the fast charge unfavorable weather isn't a huge price to pay for this upgrade being affordable and usable when the wind blows OR the sun shines.
Let's evaluate ways to change how energy is consumed from end to end. This idea, if it matures, has serious potential.
I drive a Chevy Volt. It's got 53 miles of battery-only range, a fully electric drivetrain, and the gas engine which can engage the transmission when needed is effectively a range-extender - it's more Extended Range EV (EREV) than plug-in hybrid. I rarely use gas unless I'm on a roadtrip; I filled up the gas tank *three* times in all of 2020. Its cost on the used car market has been driven way down by pure EVs, and nobody would need to switch back to a regular gas car from it.
If these highways became a reality, cheap Volts and Leafs could be the ticket for a lot of people, and then they'd find out what that silent ride, amazing torque, and low maintenance costs are all about.