The proliferation of the internal combustion engine vehicle has ushered in an unparalleled era of mobility over the past century at great cost to human health and the environment. In addition to mortality and morbidity concerns associated with air pollution, motor vehicles pose a significant challenge to global climate change goals. Curbing climate change and air pollution require us to make deep emissions cuts in the transportation sector. Battery electric vehicles have the potential to significantly reduce emissions; however, it is likely their adoption will be limited by range and recharge issues. Roadway-powered electric vehicles that can be inductively (wirelessly) charged while moving along a roadway have been suggested as a possible solution to the range and recharge issues. With wireless charging, the vehicle is charged as it moves along the roadway, reducing or even eliminating the need for lengthy stops to recharge. Using a least cost optimization model under a geographic information system framework in California, we have developed scenarios to explore the options for wireless roadway charging for different range EVs. We find that most long distance statewide travel between popular destinations could be accomplished with a 200-mile range EV and 626 miles of roadway with 40-kW dynamic charging at a capital cost of about $2.5 billion. This assumes that supplemental static charging is used when traveling between Northern and Southern California or to the upper extents of California near the Oregon-California border (static charging is conducted at a recharging site off of the highway). Our research not only shows that relatively little dynamic charging infrastructure is required to enable long distance travel between popular destinations in California but also indicates that the capital investment required to deploy such an infrastructure in California could be recovered within a 20-year period under relatively low vehicle volumes (300,000 to 1,000,000) consuming a relatively small amount of dynamic charging energy yearly (27 kWh to 138 kWh). Even at very low battery prices of $100 per kWh, our findings indicate that dynamic charging is more cost effective at extending range than increasing battery capacity alone. Finally, in our analysis of wireless charging and bus mass transit, our results suggest that wireless charging employed during bus layover periods can be an attractive and effective measure to reduce onboard energy storage requirements and capital battery electric bus costs, resulting in a solution than can better compete with existing fossil-fueled buses.