With today (March 8) being International Women's Day, the Top Women in EV 2023 initiative is using the week to recognise the women leading the charge in the transition to emobility.
Each day this week, up to 10 women in a key sector will be featured including those working in EV charging.
In the Strategy sector one of the pioneering women being highlighted is Anastasia Pecullo (Yarygina), programme manager at ALD Automotive. Anastasia worked in South Korea for more than seven years, reaching the position of senior manager at the innovation department of Hyundai.
In her current role as programme director at ALD Automotive, Anastasia brings together her talents, international expertise and passion for innovation to drive electrification: in the past 2 years she implemented electric charging services across 34 countries in Europe and Latin America.
A trailblazer in her field, Anastasia has devoted her work to leading the change and accelerating new business development in the automotive industry.
In the Aotomotive sector Elizabeth Warren, head of business management at MER is one of those being highlighted. Elizabeth is championing lean strategy and processes at Mer UK, so EV charging becomes simpler and more user-friendly for everyone.
She has 20 years’ of experience in energy trading, production, and EV charging. Having joined Mer in its infancy, her work was essential to the development and rapid success of a leading EV charging solutions provider.
In the Innovation sector, one of the top women being highlighted is Loredana Negriu, global product manager at ABB.
In this role Loredana specialises in designing and executing product strategy programmes to deliver global growth for one of the largest EV charging solutions providers in the world.
Recently, she has overseen the delivery of ABB’s millionth electric vehicle charger, a major milestone in both ABB and the world’s journey to net zero transport.
Charging safety
Another EV charging issue being highlighted on International Women's Day is the safety of female EV drivers who charge their vehicles alone at night.
Online car marketplace heycar is running a campaign for the UK government to urgently introduce minimum personal safety standards at public electric car chargepoints to protect vulnerable road users.
Nearly nine-in-ten (87%) of a sample of 817 UK public electric car charging locations don’t have a dedicated light over the charge point and 77% don’t have a security camera covering the charge point, according to campaign partner, ChargeSafe, an independent five-star rating system.
Sarah Tooze, heycar consumer editor, says: “These findings from our campaign partner ChargeSafe are disappointing but not surprising given that EV drivers themselves, particularly women, have told us how unsafe they feel using public EV charging points. While there are network operators taking safety issues seriously, this research shows how much more work needs to be done.”
Volkswagen Financial Services (VWFS) UK is backing the campaign.
Emma Loveday, senior fleet consultant at VWFS UK, says: "Women can be vulnerable when they use an electric charging point without safety and security measures. There is a risk of women being subjected to unwanted behaviour and, worse, being attacked."
She added: "I haven’t heard of any incidents involving violence against women at charging points, but I am not naïve enough to think it won’t ever happen. It’s a case of when, not if.”
