Since Amelie de Valroger switched careers three years ago, she has embraced the challenge of fast-paced change within the EV sector. Joining ALD Automotive as the Head of Legal and contributing to its IPO core team, she now works as Head of Business Intelligence and Consultancy at the leasing firm. “This industry is exciting because it’s complex and constantly changing. What I love most about my job is the creativity, innovation, teamwork and sense of purpose it brings,” says Amelie who was selected from ALD’s talent programme to build her Paris-based team of 10 consultants and client officers from scratch. “I’m very grateful to my management who trusts me and gave me the opportunity to become an intrapreneur”.
For Amelie, sustainability is an absolute must: “We should all be thinking about it and act to improve sustainability in our lives. I’m lucky to have that as part of my job. It’s motivating and inspiring to focus on that on a daily basis.”
Every morning, Amelie immerses herself in the news so she’s up-to-date with the latest trends and developments. Then she liaises with her in-house consultants and correspondents in 43 countries to develop tools, manage data and improve ALD’s methodology. Amelie is in charge of the company’s customer advisory board, catching up regularly with a forum of 20 clients. She strives to better understand her clients’ needs and challenges and find new ways to support them: “I enjoy working in this co-creation mode and this month, we’re launching the Green Scorecard that calculates total cost of ownership and carbon dioxide emissions for one vehicle toward greener alternatives and a client’s whole fleet – Thus, we make it simple. I’m really proud of it and of my team,” she explains.
For Amelie, diversity within companies is crucial to making EVs accessible to everyone: “We need to mirror the diversity of our clients, from age and gender to backgrounds and mindset, diversity covers lots of different things in society and that’s really important. Our clients are younger, they have new habits for commuting, they include more women, so we need to take that all into consideration,” says Amelie who wants to integrate more diversity into every aspect of the EV industry right up to the boardroom. “Everyone brings different things to the table. The key to success is to have more new skillsets and fresh perspectives to help with problem-solving and adaptability.”
So Amelie recommends that managers create teams of people that aren’t like themselves. It’s best to recruit people who complement you, she says.
And her advice for women aiming to pursue a career in emobility? Follow her lead and take more risks: “Women need to accept new challenges and believe in themselves because working in this environment will offer lots of opportunities”.
For Amelie, “EVs are not only cars, products and processes, people and skills are key to success”. To increase awareness about EVs, Amélie is engaging training to staff and clients around the world: “We have a lot of international clients and we need to have low carbon solutions everywhere. So, through our new internal academy, we train people to speak confidently about electrification, empowering them to understand more about the climate crisis, the sustainable development goals, EVs, charging infrastructure and consultancy support. We’ve made it really fun with a quiz app and so far people have given us great feedback.”
Of course, a transition to a low-carbon society doesn’t solely rely on electric transport. A smart infrastructure, active travel and mobility as a service will play major roles too. But Amelie firmly believes that vehicle electrification is the biggest part of the puzzle right now: “The world won’t change in one day. People need to go from A to B and about 80% of people drive cars so the easiest solution is to switch to electric vehicles. I’m convinced that’s the solution.”
By working with big fleets, she hopes impacts will be big too: “Fleets will be ahead of the curve because they have younger cars than the general market. As fuel prices increase and government incentives are spreading, total cost of ownership parity between ICE and EVs is already a reality in some markets. It’s a good time to electrify and momentum is building to electrify the market. The question is not if it will happen, but how fast it will happen.”
