New phenomenon Electric car charging cables

We have a new hub in town with all things council under one room including gym and swimming pool. As a regular pool user I always park in the electric bays, there must be about 10 of them, and they are nearly always empty and closer to the entrance.
The other day after swimming I sat in my car and watched this chap paying and disconnecting his car. He rolled up this enormous cable which he then zipped up in a circular bag he then opened the bonnet and then opened a large container on top of the engine, put the cable bag into this container, closed the lid, closed the bonnet, pressed some buttons on the electric pole thing and paid by card.
What a faff I'll be sticking with petrol for a while!!

I do think that there are going to be problems as more and more people buy a plug in electric car. Just where are people going to be able to charge their vehicle if they don’t live in a property that has its own drive and space to have a charging point fitted? People living in terraced housing or flats are going to have difficulties, I think, and there is potentially a hazard if lots of cables are going to be strewn across footpaths in order for people to attach them to their cars. Footpaths are already hazardous for pedestrians at times with vehicles parked half on the path and half on the road, so goodness knows what it will be like with numerous cables trailing all over them - unless I’m missing something and other methods are going to be used.
I know that there are a few charging points scattered about in various places such as pub car parks, but there are nowhere near enough of them if we are all going to go all electric with our cars. I don’t think it’s been thought through very well at all.

I think there will be more of that as a necessity as the sales of EVs really take off. Perhaps eventually there will be points on pavements etc or people without drives will use charging points in public car parks. There will be cities and towns everywhere with residents who do not have parking space next to their house.
DS is a design engineer on EVs and says that the batteries will need long slow charging not just the fast relatively short lived charging. Batteries are now being produced do have a much longer range than the initial ones.
He tells me that if you get an electric vehicle you should buy the best charging lead you can - can’t remember why but would trust him on that point!

Apparently it is not illegal to run a cable across a pathway to charge your vehicle but you could be in trouble if someone trips over it The cable should be brightly coloured so pedestrians can see it and preferably held down with a cable cover
I suppose if you have an electric car with a flat battery you don’t have much choice

I’ve never seen that. I suggest you contact your local councillor and report it. Do take a photo.