Do I need the extra electrical thingys?

YES!!!!! they increase your electric energy bar. 

Yeah it is kinda important. Each time you get a certain amount your electricity meter goes up.

It'll help out once you get more powers.  Some of those consume a good deal of electricity.  Every once in a while I'd just suggest clicking that stick in a lot and hunting them down.  I would do that and while I was listening to the Giantbomb E3 podcasts and the time flew by.

It is not necessary, but helpful. In addition to increasing your capacity, you also get 5 XP per shard. There are trophies related to collecting them as well.

It is a good idea, especially when you get some stronger powers that use more energy. But, There is a cap at around 300 shards. Once you pass the cap, your energy bar doesnt go up. You just get XP points when you find them after that point. Also if you are a trophy whore, then you will want to get them all.

Ugh that sucks... I actually am quite far in the game. I've got most of the powers including that R3 (evil) one that sucks friggin like sooo much electricity

I'd say to a certain point. Once you need to get a lot of shards for 1 upgrade then you don't really need it. But having the extra juice is pretty nice, especially for the evil run since you can't leech energy with your bolt.

At least when fighting your way through the off-grid areas of the game and with the end-boss they are really handy. 

It's more important/helpful to collect Blast Shards when playing as Good, rather than Evil. 

Also, during 1 of your play-throughs, you'll need to collect them all to get the Trophies (3 of them). 

Lastly, and by the way, they are only worth 3 XP on Hard Mode.

It's not really vital for you to succeed at the game, but it is vital if you want to have more fun. The game is pretty-easy, so it's all about feeling even MORE powerful at the end of the game

I loved collecting the blast sharps. One of the funnest parts of the game. Whenever I saw a dark blue blip on my radar, I'd go straight for it, even when I was on a mission.

I didn't go out of my way to collect any of the blast shards.  I just grabbed the ones that I came across while exploring the city.  It is useful to be able to use your precision lightning power more times before running out of energy!  That's why I'd collect them, from a practical standpoint.

Hell yes! They give you extra battery cores! Every time you see one, go get it right away! It will make things so much more fun and easy!