Count yourself lucky that you've got a petrol engine as backup, unlike the 'pure' electric cars !

Quite. At Warwick Services earlier this year, I was amused to see a Tesla having to wait in a queue at the fast charging points, which were occupied by a BMW, a leaf and a Prius plug-in.

Until Back to the Future's "Mr Fusion" home reactor becomes a reality, a range extender motor really is the only way forward.

Anyone who bought one of these cars knew that they were getting into 'bleeding edge' technology, and the risks that involved.

Hardly. Electric vehicles were widespead in Victorian and Edwardian times before they were outnumbered by the infernal combustion engine. The OP is concerned about recharging facilities, not lithium ion technology.

On the outskirts of the small town that I live near in north-west france a charging point for electric vehicles has just been installed. For the first three months it can be used for free - it can charge at 16 kilowatt according to the blurb in the local newsletter.

I have yet to see any vehicle use it.

South Mimms services has 2 standard and 2 Tesla points, and there was a Tesla on charge!!! The Market car park in Tring has 2 standard points, but never an electric car in sight.

I have started to spot more charging points - IKEA, a council multi-storey in Bracknell, Warwick services. I've rarely seen them in use: the issue as the OP and others imply is that if you have an Ampera it's not all that much use without lots of charging points, but it's not worth installing lots of charging points without there being lots of Amperas around...... Just maybe this is something that Govt could be doing more vigorously.

The only time I've seen the Warwick Services charging point occupied was not by an electric vehicle but by a random Renault van!

The concept of electric cars has been around for decades, but the same drawbacks still remain. You just can't go very far on a single charge.

To increase the range more batteries could be added, but that would also increase the weight which would be detrimental to the range, so it would seem electric cars have gone as far as they can go. I don't believe that life exists elsewhere in the universe but not as we know it, or any of the science fiction rubbish, and so the first law of thermodynamics that states that energy cannot be created nor destroyed is true. There is no magic undiscovered power source that means we can get an infinite life out of a cell the size of a watch battery.

Having said that, Tesla claim their electric cars can achieve a range of up to 330 miles. Whether or not they will do in the real world though I remain to be convinced. And although you can charge them in 30 minutes they won't fully charge in that time, meaning for me they're a waste of time and not worth having.