The direction of the electric field is determined by the direction of the force that it exerts on electric charges. In an electric field, electric charges are subjected to a force that is proportional to the electric field strength and the charge itself. The direction of the force is given by Coulomb’s Law, which states that the force between two charged particles is directed along the line connecting the two charges, and is proportional to the product of the charges and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them.
In general, electric charges tend to move from regions of low electric potential to regions of high electric potential. The electric potential at a point in an electric field is defined as the amount of work that would be required to move a unit charge from a reference point (usually taken as infinity) to that point. Thus, the electric field points from high electric potential to low electric potential, because it is the direction that a charged particle would need to be moved in order to release some of its electric potential energy.