What led you to working in the eMobility sector? Can you tell us about your education and career before joining the eMobility industry?

I graduated as an architect from the Polytechnic University of Valencia with a specialisation in urban planning. After that I did a master's degree in digital art and experience design at the European Institute of Design (IED Madrid). For seven years I developed my professional career within the architecture and construction sector, focusing my work mainly on residential, institutional, industrial and urban planning projects until I finally had the opportunity to join an emerging sector that was committed to a more sustainable social model: eMobility.

Throughout my professional development I have pursued the same concerns such as the social value that design and architecture can bring, the sustainability and environmental impact of projects, as well as the incorporation of new technologies in the flow and production of like virtual reality and BIM methodology. These tools help to optimise both the design itself and the timing in different phases of work or the optimisation of the material and human resources used. I’m now investigating how AI can help to optimise and generate new design models and how eMobility can benefit from this.

Has the eMobility sector been becoming more diverse and inclusive in the last years and how can it continue to evolve in this respect?

Although I haven’t been in the e-mobility industry long enough to form a full view, throughout my professional career, I have seen how women have been getting more and more involved in traditionally male-dominated sectors such as architecture. There is a general trend in today's society and culture where inclusion and diversity is key to the development and success of companies and projects, eMobility being one of those sectors. Much more needs to be done, such as working within companies to find a balance between the professional development of the employee and family reconciliation so that things like maternity do not represent an obstacle in the professional career of each individual.

How do you make a difference in your role, in terms of understanding customer pain points?

As an architect, I understand that eMobility goes far beyond technical issues such as car autonomy, charger power, communication and marketing of the sector or the development of the user platforms. Consumers have limited interest in the complexity behind these technical aspects. For them, the important thing is to be able to charge their car as quickly and easily as possible when they are on their way to work or travelling from one city to another on holiday with their family.

From my point of view, eMobility should cover a very basic and very mundane need: to be able to move around with an electric car in complete freedom and still go about our daily routines without major setbacks. That’s why it’s important that charging stations are perfectly integrated into the urban infrastructure of our cities, as well as into the state road networks.

How does your daily work contribute to the roll-out of EV charging?

I’m aware of the social value of design and the impact that can be generated with it. I think that the layout, materials and integration of charging stations should respond to the needs and concerns on both user and societal level.

Issues such as climate change, personal and social health and well-being, sustainability and the long-term impact of our actions, or the quality of the time spent in the vehicle charging process are key to the definition of our charging stations. That’s why, in designing charging locations, I look for the quality of spaces that provide a regenerative value to the environment, places where the user can identify themselves, feel safe and where the experience goes beyond the actual vehicle recharging.

What advice could you give to other women interested in working in tech sector?

The tech sector is booming and growing, so there is room for everyone here. From my point of view, success in any area of life doesn’t depend on gender, but on perseverance, hard work, passion for what you do and the determination to improve yourself every day.

Find allies to help you in your day-to-day life and help them with the same generosity. The idea is to form a team and take those qualities that differentiate us from each other and put them to work in such a way that they are not an obstacle, but an opportunity to learn something new that helps us to grow both individually and as a group.

What skills help you succeed in your daily job?

Creativity, transversal and flexible thinking are key for me. Being able to analyse and understand different points of view, both technical and human, to achieve a joint solution that solves all kinds of problems and needs of the many agents involved in each project, from the end user of the station, to the builder who executes the work, and even the needs of the company.

To project means to imagine a future scenario where a specific action is taken to solve a specific need. In order to do so, a unique solution must be thought and materialised in the present time. A whole mechanism must be articulated to generate this future scenario both at a material level and in the planning of means, time and resources.

What is your wish for the future of eMobility?

I wish that institutions and public agencies would come to understand the real need for the eMobility sector to develop as quickly as possible, as it’s a mobility model that can really help to improve the climate emergency we are experiencing. Here in Spain, institutional bureaucracy puts many obstacles in the way of any project to deploy the much-needed charging infrastructure. I would also like that the rest of the public is more familiar with this sector and that soon, the electric car will be accessible to anyone, regardless of their status or purchasing power.