I'm pretty sure that centered position is entirely to get the low Cw value that they achieved. Someone else said that that cost-per-mile factor was pretty much the key factor from the entire presentation. However, they were very unclear as to what they did and didn't count in that number. Did they assume it'll be a convoy with only one driver in the first truck, which inevitably plummets the cost per mile per tonne down? Did they factor in the increased weight of the truck, leading to higher tolls? I don't think we get answers for that. That said...I would love for a progressive government to just subsidize electric trucks (or tax non-electrics) to push companies make the jump. Trucks are such a large contributor to pollution, and it's a boring task that begs for lanekeeping. By the looks of it they're definitely going to be much more safe than regular trucks, too.
There is a LOT of low-hanging fruit in the area of "reducing pollution". Here in Seattle, my ex-girlfriend is a part of the Puget Sound Clean Energy Commission, and she noticed that cruise ships sitting along our docks were emitting big black clouds of smoke. So she started asking around about that. Turns out that the cruise ships would turn off their engines and turn on completely unregulated diesel generators to provide power to the ships while in port. Long story short, she put together a plan and a project that resulted in all cruise ships shutting down their systems when at port, and using power provided from the dock. Win: Reduces pollution. Win: Makes our tourist waterfront more pleasant. Win: Port of Seattle makes more money now, providing power to parked cruise ships. Win: Cruise ships get cheap hydro power, rather than expensive diesel. There are so many of these things that can be done, now, TODAY, to move the ball forward. Increasing the efficiency of trucking is definitely one of those. Trucks are such a large contributor to pollution, and it's a boring task that begs for lanekeeping.