The point I was trying to make about needing enough charging points is that a lot of electric cars don't have brilliant range, so most people would probably want to charge up when they get home from work, a little like charging a mobile phone each night. I suspect in reality there would be options to charge during the day at work, but I can just see a future where people will be arguing over who is using the charge point and maybe even people unplugging others to charge their own (not sure how possible that is as I've never used one).

I linked the Telegraph article but had also read it on the BBC, possibly still a copy and paste of out-dated and incorrect news, who knows what to believe these days anyway!

I'm not against electric cars, I actually like the sounds of the motor as it builds up speed in the same way I like the sound of a V8 but I wonder if it's the best way forward. Maybe it is...:cool:

Surely the Hydrogen Cell will be the death knell for ICE and also alleviate some of the charging issues?

http://www.nextgreencar.com/fuelcellcars/

This is a technology which offers the best hope for range and quick refuelling.
The issues are Hydrogen production (electrolysing water is very energy intensive and inefficient in comparison to the energy reclaimed in the cell, batteries are more efficient in this regard) and storage.

One side benefit is that it could keep petrol stations relevant.

Why would we want that? :)

Errr. who wants to store compressed hydrogen at home?? You have to "refuel" somewhere... they will go from petrol stations to charging stations and finally to hydrogen charging stations.... ;)+++

I doubt it, personally - too complicated and inefficient.

That's what I was thinking - there will be regulatory control on Hydrogen storage anyway, with tested tanks in cars (like LPG currently).
Fuel stations would be a mix, like we currently have Unleaded, Premium, Diesel and LPG.
You'd have Hydrogen, supercharging and fossil fuels mix in proportion to their needs (like currently, controlled by market forces).

With charging stations, it depends on how they're going to be set up. You'll need some sort of formal supercharging infrastructure to allow for long distance travel, unless you plan on parking next to someone's lamp post overnight (lamp post charging won't be supercharged).
Whether this is in the form of cafe's and shopping centres (like currently) or service stations (motorway services). Motorway services makes the most sense for cars on long distance trips.