The Model 3 weighs hundreds of lb more than its equivalent in an ICE car, not 3x as much. These numbers are still improving as well.

I dont think the comparison is to ICE but to a car on a rail/line that doesnt need to carry its energy at all (or only a small battery for the last 30 miles.)

That is an unreasonable comparison to make, considering EVs are competing with ICE vehicles, not trains or busses.

But this is a tangent about rails and wires vs EV, not ICE.

It's a tangent about how to power personal vehicles, which are overwhelmingly powered by the gasoline.

Is that just path dependence, or maybe there are advantages to having lots of built in range?

The economics do not make sense. There are massive capital and operational expenditures to build power rails/overhead wires everywhere.

If you want to longbets.org this I will have someone put down $1000 this will not happen in any city of over 10k people in the United States in the next 20 years.

BMW 3 series: 3,582 to 3,764 lbs

Model 3: 3,627 to 4,072 lbs

At best the Tesla is 8% heavier (total weight).