Laura Rainey: powering your future journeys
Committed to fighting climate change, Laura chose to take an MSc in Carbon Management. Now Senior Project Manager for Electric Vehicles at National Grid, she’s working on ways we can enhance and develop the electric vehicle charging network, to encourage more of us to switch from petrol and diesel vehicles.
Helping the clean drive to thrive
Have you driven an electric vehicle yet? Switching drivers to an electric vehicle (EV) is one of the most visible, exciting and essential steps in transforming the UK into a low-carbon economy.
Today EVs are topping awards lists; drivers are impressed with the appearance and performance of the latest generation of EVs. However, making EVs a successful mainstream car choice relies on us getting in place a reliable, readily available network of charging points, where people can plug in and top up, including on long journeys.
This is where I fit in. One of the most important and rewarding parts of my job is forging collaborative relationships across the sectors, in order to develop the future of EV charging and make sure the UK maintains its position as a leader in EVs.
Leading the charge to work together
What do I love most about my job? Many of the industries I talk to have not worked closely together before and I love working to help these parties to unite on a single, shared vision – a successful EV market.
I get to work with a diverse group of businesses, from international car manufacturing companies to commercial enterprises, planning networks of UK charging points. One day I’m in talks with digital developers who want to create apps for EV consumers, the next I’ll be meeting with policymakers to understand how the private and public sectors need to work together to reach the UK’s EV targets. No one person or organisation has all the answers – we have to work together to get the right answer for the UK public and drivers.
I wanted to spend my career playing my part – creating and delivering the answers we need to deliver a low-carbon future.
Addressing her generation’s biggest challenge
At National Grid, we’re focused on making a decarbonised economy a reality, by using our expertise to provide safe, secure and dependable energy and deliver the energy systems of the future. There’s a real commitment across the organisation to Net Zero and that strong purpose matters to me.
My postgraduate degree was one of the first to focus on business and climate change. I chose it because I knew that tackling climate change would be the single biggest challenge of my generation and I wanted to spend my career playing my part – creating and delivering the answers we need to deliver a low carbon future.
