Feeling the need to rant...
It is interesting to crunch some numbers:
The UK's total generating capacity is about 74.8GW (as of 2015, although this is expected to drop to 70.6GW by 2019). As of 26 Nov 2016 this was supplied by 57% Gas, 20% nuclear, 8% coal, 5% biomass, 2.6% french ICT 2.6% Dutch ICT, 2% wind plus a few otherminor sources.
Typical peak demand is 48GW, leaving about 26GW for fast charging (assuming all resources are available)
Last night (26 Nov 2016) overnight demand (between midnight and 05:00) dropped to 26.3GW. Leaving about 48.5 GW to charge batteries over night (assuming all resources are available)
(
http://www.nationalgrid.com/uk/Electricity/Data/Realtime/Demand/demand24.htm)
The typical EV battery is between 10kWh and 100kWh ( 3kW - 20KW required charge depending on speed) and it really does not matter what battery technology will be used , moving a tonne of car along (even at typically slow UK road speeds) takes the same amount of energy.
So, the UK might just be able to cope with 16 million electric cars charging slowly over night or as few as a million on fast charge
(Assuming the domestic grid can cope with the current) .
There are 31.7 million cars on the UK's road as of 2016.
ONE standard petrol pump can ‘dispense’ about 20,000kw ; 600 gallons per hour times 33.4kwh/ USgallon (figures in UK/Europe are similar). Compare this with your standard domestic supply which is,in the UK 60A@230v, ~ 14kw. Nobody’s going to be charging their electric vehicle at home very fast unless there is a significant upgrade to the power grid.
Another point: there are 8 pumps at my local petrol station, and there must be more than half a dozen similar sized filling stations within a mile or two. Those can supply about a gigawatt of power, or about the same output as the Sizewell B nuclear power station (PWR).
If all future vehicles are going to be electric, our neighbourhoods are going to change out of all recognition.
Bill