"Where's the infrastructure?", frustration over pace of electric vehicle revolution

Tap to watch a video report by ITV News Meridian's James Dunham

A lack of charging points for electric vehicle owners is causing huge frustration for the owner of a community transport service in Sussex.

Havens Community Transport has a client base of 450 people who need to travel to and from things such as day centres or hospitals.

Paula Woolven, who runs the service, bought two electric vans because she wanted to help the planet.

However, she says it's been a logistical nightmare trying to plan journeys knowing she can't rely on their being charging points on the road.

"The most frustrating thing for me is the fact that nobody seems to be owning the whole issue because obviously there are power companies that can install them", Paula says.

"Why are they not going into supermarkets into new shops, new builds at the moment? It's just incredibly frustrating and you need electric to get out and about."

Whilst filming, we found the only charging point in Newhaven was broken and Paula says a sign confirming an engineer has been called has now been on display for a year.

Another, at a petrol station three miles away in Peacehaven only had one of three hoses available, and that was not compatible with Paula's vans.

Paula did receive a Government grant to install a charger at base, but that only covered a third of the cost and unit takes up to four hours to charge one vehicle.

From 2030, the Government will ban the sale of new petrol and diesel cars to reduce harmful emissions.

"We decided to use electric vehicles because we wanted to be environmentally conscious. So to do that, and it seems that there's no reward for it,. You know, the government are saying 'do get electric vehicles we want to phase out fossil fuels', where's the infrastructure?

Ben Nelmes from campaign group New Automotive says there is a long way to go

Lewes District councillor Matthew Bird says the district is leading the way on innovation but said there should be a bigger push from East Sussex County Council and Central Government.

"We're putting in charging points within the next few months, so they're not there at the moment. We've done all the assessments. We worked with UK power networks. We've looked beyond our own car parts to look at community halls, village halls, we've assessed them for the capacity to charge cars.

"We work with local community groups. We're supporting electric cargo bike scheme. We've got our electric vehicle charging guidance in our planning. So we're pushing that. So we're doing what we can and we're not the transport authority.

"What we really need is county council to do a lot more in terms of on street charging, and we really need better Government policy."

An East Sussex County Council spokesperson said:

"The county council recognises that there is a growing level of demand for charging points and that their greater availability is key to increasing the uptake of EVs.

“We are currently developing a strategic approach to support the increased take up of electric vehicles in East Sussex, including looking at how we might procure the installation of public charging points in a way that addresses the complex range of technical, legal, procurement and practical issues in the most effective manner.

“Once we have addressed these matters we will be in a position to apply for grant funding to assist with the roll-out of EV charging infrastructure.”

The Government last year announced that up to 145,000 extra charge points would be installed every year nationally.