Re: 80mile range?
"As for charging points... These are a joke. Operated by different companies with different connectors. CHADEMO, Type 2 or whaever. It is a minefield. To run an EV car, you have to sign up to at least two different Charging point operators."
*sigh* It pains me to see so many upvotes for a fundamentally flawed paragraph such as this (I say this gently and without intending offense). Here's the reality.
Every single EV on the market today supports the standard connector used in that region - called J1772 in the USA and Mennekes in the UK and Europe. These are used for slower charging - overnight at home, at work, or at a destination such as a hotel or theatre.
Every single EV on the market that supports rapid charging supports EITHER a fully compatible superset of the slower regional standard universally called the Combined Charging Standard (CCS), OR the older Japanese CHAdeMO standard. These are used for recharging in under an hour when traveling.
Tesla also has their Supercharger network with proprietary connectors that only a Tesla vehicle can use, but a Tesla vehicle can certainly use the slower regional standard via an included adapter, and the CHAdeMO rapid standard via an available adapter - rather like a USB to USB-C charging adapter.
So what do rapid charge stations do? Exactly what petrol pumps do - they support both standards! A petrol pump supplies gasoline (often in 3 grades) via one hose and diesel via the other. Rapid charge stations simply provide two connectors, one for CCS and the other for CHAdeMO. It's impossible to plug the wrong connector into your car, unlike putting the wrong grade of gasoline into your car - or worse, a diesel truck!
BTW, I only belong to one charging network: EVgo. I've never needed any other membership to roam the DFW Metroplex, which is about twice the size of Northern Ireland, in my first-generation 80 mile range Leaf. All of their local stations support both CHAdeMO (used by my Leaf) and CCS. Your Membership May Vary. But yes, just accepting a credit card like the petrol pumps would be a definite step in the right direction as well. Just give it a little time. :-)
Hope this clears up the confusion about a "minefield" that is actually somewhat simpler than drivers currently face in petrol-fueled vehicles.