I actually got to handle a electra a while back and a gun shop. And it was explained and demonstrated how the sparker worked. It took a while to charge for the first time, but after it was touched off, by the time you would have reloaded it would be ready to shoot again.
It was kind of an strange rifle to handle but one that a person could have got used to. I really have not heard a lot about it accuracy wise. I think a lot of people do not trust the spark or it is not legal in their state, so they stay away from it. Besides, it is expensive most places and other rifles for the same money can be had. The other thing that concerns me is.. it takes a battery to shoot. So while if you remember a battery, you would be fine out in the woods. Just as if you remembered 209 primers or caps. Also batteries and bitter cold weather like I normally hunt in, could be a bad thing.
I own a couple CVA rifles. One of them is a inline. It is a CVA Staghorn Magnum. Out to 100 yards that rifle will shoot with the best of them. I never tried it further and have no need to. It seems to like 90 grains of powder and about anything you want to shove down it. I paid $89.00 for it new. The stock to barrel fit could be better, but it is a very hardy rifle, the simplistic design of the action makes it almost fool proof, which is very important to me..
As for the blowing up of barrels, that horse has been beat to death on most forums and I am not even going to comment on that aspect of CVA. CVA is a good rifle for those that want to get into the sport and not spend a ton of money. They normally shoot well. Although a friend of mine had a Optima he brought to my house, and we could not make that thing shoot well. And we tried a lot of combinations. He finally sent it back to CVA and I really do not know what happened to it after that as he never returned to the house with it.