The electrical charge ALWAYS has an axial component.
The electric field has an axial component along the wire for a normal wire. We have already covered that.
In an ideal conductor it is net zero NOT equal zero. The axial component is independant of resistance.
The axial component of the electric field is not independent of resistance but is directly proportional to it. If it were not so, we would have a conflict with Ohm's Law.
For the steady-state DC case where we reach equilibrium in the radial direction, the radial component of the applied electric field is offset by the electric field from the polarized metal and the net radial electric field is zero.
The axial component of Work energy is proportional to resistance. The field effects are still there. They don't disappear. They just have nothing to latch onto.
The axial component of the electric field is proportional to the resistance. The radial component of energy is proportional to the resistance. The axial component of energy is proportional to the down-line load.
Don't forget that the energy vector is the cross product of the electric field vector and magnetic field vector and thus the energy vector is perpendicular to both.
You constantly argue that the energy travels between conductors then wave the keyboard and announce it doesn't require any conductors to travel. That's contradictory. Which is it?
Energy to the load travels outside the conductor. Without the conductors, we do not have as much control over the energy direction. The conductors act like a waveguide for the energy.
You can't sustain the first argument and simply declare the second can occur without explaining how it bypasses all your other requirements for transmission.
I covered it earlier when I talked about antennas and waveguides.
The IEEE Press "Power Definitions and the Physical Mechanism of Power Flow" by Emanuel is primarily concerned with the in-depth analysis of metering electrical energy and the analysis of the energy flow. It has a very detailed coverage of the application of the Poynting Vector (PV) across many load and conductor types. It is an excellent text covering the details of how and where energy flows plus how we measure it. From the text:
The last result emphasizes the fact that the flow of electric energy toward the load takes place within the dielectric that surrounds the transmission line conductors. One may figure the conductors as a wave-guide for the electromagnetic wave. Equation (1.24) shows that the density of the energy increases as one nears the conductors. In the vicinity of a superconductor [the PV] is perfectly parallel to the conductor; however, in the vicinity of a lossy conductor the Poynting vector streamlines bend slightly toward the conductor due to a small component perpendicular to the conductor surface. This transversal component of [PV] transfers to the conductors the power that sustains the Joule and eddy-current losses dissipated in the conductor.