There's no doubting the need for us to take alternatives to fossil fuels seriously. However the reality of using, say an electric vehicle, doesn't always live up to the hype. Take the example of one pure electric car driver Geoff Hands, a chap who featured in a very interesting article in the Sunday Times recently. He wanted to make a trip to a garden centre, 110 miles away from where he lived. To do so, in his Hyundai Ioniq, he had to first download five different apps to help him locate charging stations and then use them. On his journey he visited six charging stations but only one had a fast charger. The shortest time Hands spent at a charger was an hour; the longest two-and-a-half hours. His journey time to the garden centre and back was a staggering 11 hours and he told the Sunday Times he would have been quicker going by stagecoach. After his terrible experience, he took the car back to the dealer and traded it in at a loss for a petrol electric hybrid.

If you're a BP dealer, this summer could be an exciting time for you as BP Chargemaster is starting the roll out of its ultra-fast 150kW electric vehicle (EV) chargers that it expects to be capable of delivering 100 miles of range in just 10 minutes. And the primary focus for the roll out is forecourts. Already BP Chargemaster provides access to over 6,500 charging points on its public charging network, which has more than 50,000 users. However, of those charging points just two are on forecourts legacy units that the company inherited.

The automotive sector is facing a global seismic change, warned Philippa Oldham, head of National Network Programmes, Advanced Propulsion Centre (APC), at last month's Westminster Energy, Environment & Transport Forum on the next steps for low emissions vehicles. Against the backdrop of the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) warning that we've got just 12 years to get serious about limiting the global temperature rise of 1.5C; and the 'Road to Zero' setting the expectation that at least 50% ideally 70% of UK car sales being zero emission capable by 2030, she said the shift from our traditional internal combustion engines needs to be addressed. The APC was formed in 2013 through a partnership between industry and government, with a target to match-fund £1bn over the course of 10 years to the UK in low-carbon propulsion R&D technology. Its achievement is measured in C02 targets. It's estimated that 26% of UK greenhouse gas emissions come from transport.

Gilbarco Veeder-Root has made a minority investment in Tritium, a privately held electric vehicle (EV) charging manufacturer.

When it comes to electric vehicles (EVs) their capabilities and how they'll be charged there always seems to be more questions than answers.