Electrics will be fairly niche for the foreseeable future barring some drastic price drop (don't see that happening bar a new battery innovation), massive government subsidies, or a huge oil shock.
Convenience is everything to most people. You simply can't beat topping up a tank with 500km+ range in a couple of minutes at a petrol station every couple of square km.
Imagine what would be needed if say 80% of the population switched to electric cars overnight, you wouldn't be able to find a spare charging port anywhere.
And even if they replaced every current petrol pump with an electric charger (ignoring grid infrastructure issues etc), you still wouldn't be able to find a spare charging port anywhere because people would need to leave their cars there for much longer than currently available.
I imagine that once people with an electric car have to experience having to wait 15-20 min at a charging station for a "quick top up", they will likely regret buying one.
I can clearly see that points of view really depends per country/continent. (in general from comments in this topic)
In dense and highly populated European areas, most people think electric is the way to go. (me included)
There has been done a lot of research and over 80-90% of the people only use a car for daily commuting.
Which is in most cases an average around 20-50km (max). You charge your car at night, go to work the next day.
I know many people happily doing that for years now. Which is VERY convenient actually.
No hassle with fueling up on time etc.
This are also exactly the distances were fuel based engines perform not so well.
In these dense areas they are even trying pilots that people don't really own a car anymore, but that you can just use a car that's parked.
Kind of renting a car on the fly. Once again, this works great in big cities or areas with heaps of people.
That's also were the most pollution is coming from.
Rural Australia is a very different story.
I find your argument about 'convenience' pretty weak. It's just a matter of different thinking.
There are pros and cons to both solution, and I don't think in a sense of convenience neither is better or worse, it's just different.
After a few hours of driving someone needs to have break for at least 20-30 minutes anyway, which is enough to super charge your car for something like 90% or so.
The main issue is that I don't understand why it's one or the other.
You can have both technologies, just depending on the needs of the customer.
I also wouldn't trust an electric car in the middle of the outback in Australia with barely any charge points.
Go to London, Berlin etc and it's a very different story.