There were 139 electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles in Tendring and seven charging points as of February, according to the BBC, which has studied how ready the country is for electric.

Although this is the fourth highest rate of the 14 Essex local authorities surveyed at 50.4, this is still below the UK average of about 70.

Deane Morgan, of Harwich, has wanted an electric car for more than a year but no driveway and a lack of charging infrastructure, has stopped him.

He said: “I contacted the Highways Agency about getting a dropped kerb but as I only have 4.5 metres from the wall to the kerb, rather than the required 5 metres, I’m unable to get one.

“There are no concessions for smaller vehicles.

“I tried inquiring about getting a roadside charger installed and was ignored.”

A Government grant capped at £500 can help people cover the cost of wall chargers installed in their home or garage.

Finding locations, charging stations being occupied, a lack of standardisation of charging points with there being a mix of connectors, charge points and tariffs, plus varying charge times are major obstacles for drivers.

Using data from Open Charge Map, a crowd-sourced website of charging locations, and the Department for Transport and DVLA, the BBC found 139 drivers fight for seven charging locations in Tendring.

It means drivers must travel 3.5km on average to top-up, which is the second further distance after Epping Forest.

Finding bays occupied by non-electric cars meant Chris Lewis, of Frinton, sold his model after just six months.

“People either don’t care or don’t realise they’ve parked in an electric-only charge point bay, which means you can’t charge your car,” he said.

“I would go back to electric vehicles, but I found the distance between charging wasn’t great.”

Nicholas Lyes, RAC’s head of roads policy, wants to see councils and central Government collaborating to find on-street charging solutions.

He said: “These findings show despite the Government’s ambitions to accelerate the take-up of cleaner vehicles, charging infrastructure is presently something of a postcode lottery, and patchy at best.

“The key is to give drivers the confidence to go electric, which will not happen quickly unless they’re given the right incentives to do so, alongside easy access to reliable charging infrastructure.”