Episode 123: Liz Allan and Naomi Nye - Strategic EV Integration and Market Adaptation

Episode 123: Liz Allan and Naomi Nye - Strategic EV Integration and Market Adaptation.

Liz Allan is joined by Naomi Nye, Head of Sales at Drax Group. Naomi brings a wealth of knowledge and experience in the electric vehicle (EV) and renewable energy sectors. Liz and Naomi discuss the pivotal role of education in overcoming barriers to EV adoption, the innovative work of Drax in renewable energy and EV infrastructure, and the importance of collaboration within the industry.

From participating in the Greenfleet EV Rally to exploring how Drax supports businesses with end-to-end EV charging solutions, Naomi shares her insights into the challenges, strategies, and exciting innovations shaping the future of decarbonisation. This episode is packed with practical advice, thought-provoking discussions, and a clear vision of how EV infrastructure and renewable energy can create a more sustainable future.

Naomi Nye Bio:
Naomi Nye started her career in finance before transitioning to roles at Rolec, where she played a key part in developing EV charging solutions. At Drax, Naomi leads efforts to provide holistic, end-to-end EV infrastructure solutions while supporting businesses in achieving their net zero ambitions. Her expertise spans fleet electrification, flexibility services, and renewable energy integration, making her a pivotal voice in the transition to a low-carbon future.

Quote of the Episode:
“Planning and education are key. Understand what you need now, but keep your strategy flexible to adapt to the future.” – Naomi Nye

Naomi Nye Links:
Website: https://www.drax.com
LinkedIn:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/naomijanenye
Twitter: https://x.com/draxgroupuk

Episode Keywords:
EV charging, renewable energy, decarbonisation, Drax Group, fleet electrification, biomass, hydropower, flexibility services, EV adoption, charging infrastructure, collaboration, net zero, education in EVs, electric vehicles, workplace charging.

Transcript

Liz Allan
I have Naomi Nye with me. She's the head of sales at Drax, which is really interesting. The stuff she will discuss regarding the EV charging side and what Drax does in the bigger picture is just fantastic. So thank you, Naomi, for joining me.

Naomi Nye [00:01:34]:
Oh, thank you so much. It's lovely to be here.

Liz Allan [00:01:38]:
So we met a few months ago now. It feels like yesterday. July feels like yesterday. I should have left my Christmas tree up at the end of December because we're in November now, and it's so quick. How did that happen? But we met in July at the Greenfleet EV Rally. You had a team. I was on the Women Drive Electric team. You looked like you were having a whale of a time. And we were all quite active, weren't we? But you were having a whale of a time, weren't you?

Naomi Nye [00:02:04]:
Yeah. Do you know what? It was such a good week. It's the first time I've done the rally. So, for me, having that whole experience was just incredible. And the reason, well, one of the reasons that I wanted to do it was because I drive a Tesla as my kind of EV car of choice. So I'm always quite spoiled with the Tesla network and being able to get out there and experience, you know, that public network from a much broader viewpoint. What's out there? What's it costing? How is it working? Understanding that from that customer perspective was really important to me. That was one of the reasons that I wanted to be involved.

Naomi Nye [00:02:41]:
And then it ended up, you know, just having such a blast with so many fab people. And everyone, you know, was just so passionate and, you know, all pulling to achieve the same things and, yeah, it was great. It was a good week. But, yes, it was exhausting as well.

Liz Allan [00:02:58]:
It was very exhausting, but it was so exhilarating. Some of the sites we saw were fantastic, including the Drax hub or the I. I said to you before we started recording, I'm a Northerner. I didn't even know Drax was a village, you know? It's a village in Selby, isn't it?"

Naomi Nye [00:03:16]:
Yes. Yeah. So the power station.

Liz Allan [00:03:19]:
Yeah. I didn't have a clue.

Naomi Nye [00:03:21]:
Yeah. Power stations are up there in Selby. So we are now, I think, this year, we've just had our 50th anniversary. So we've been around for quite a while, and that power station back in the day was a coal-fired power station, which I think for us, you know, the early nineties, the writing was definitely on the wall for that. So there's been this whole project, which I think was one of the largest or most significant decarbonisation projects in Europe, actually transferring that over from coal to biomass. It's a massive, colossal project there. But that's not our only asset or property from which we generate the power. We also have hydropower up at Kuken.

Naomi Nye [00:04:00]:
So, renewable energy and clean energy are key parts of what we do. And that is the core of our business, which is the energy side, renewable energy. So, in the UK, we are part of the country's national critical infrastructure. We're the largest provider of dispatchable renewable power through biomass at Selby and hydropower up at Crookan. And we currently provide around 12% of the UK's renewable energy. So, really, kind of being experts in that space, understanding how that works.

Naomi Nye [00:04:32]:
And then out of that, I think there's a whole other group of services that Drax has pulled together to help support customers on their decarbonisation piece and where they are and how we can get them through scope 1, 2, 3 emissions and how we can support them moving forward. So yes, Drax Electric Vehicles is where I sit. So, I'm really on the EV side of the business. We sit within that commercial retail space, if you like, under a section of the business called Energy Solutions. Through that side of the business, we support customers with renewable power so we can supply renewable energy. We support electrification services. So, we do a full end-to-end turnkey solution for EV charging points. But then we can also take it one step further, looking at those EV chargers as an asset and how we can use flexibility services, demand side response on top of load management, and smart charging, which are things that we can activate.

Naomi Nye [00:05:33]:
And how can we then look at it from a site level? So we're looking at things, not just your EV charging points. It may be your heat pumps. It might be refrigeration. It might be manufacturing. There are all sorts of things that you can bring into play to support those flexibility sides of the business, and they support the way we use energy and how we can use it most effectively and get the most value out of it. So there's a whole ranch of things that sit behind it.

Liz Allan [00:06:00]:
Your background was previously in renewables anyway, wasn't it? So that's kind of why you or or the EV side of things came into work at Drax, wasn't it?

Naomi Nye [00:06:12]:
At Drax, yeah. I've been in the EV space. I joined a company called Rolec, a charge point manufacturer in the UK, in 2010. Prior to that, I was actually in finance. I was an independent financial advisor. So, it was completely different.

Naomi Nye [00:06:29]:
Yeah. So yeah, I was in finance for a number of years, and I got to that point where, you know, I was on a bit of a hamster wheel. Everything was quite busy: young children, self-employed, working lots of hours. And I thought I just needed a change of direction and career. So, I decided I'll have a little break while I thought about what I wanted to do. What was my next kind of challenge gonna be? But while I was thinking about that, I still wanted to work. I haven't had a job since I was 14 years old, so I've always worked. And, yeah.

Naomi Nye [00:07:03]:
I got a 9 to 5 job at Rolec, working on the business's leisure side. So, for caravan parts and marinas, electrical infrastructure is put in place for the hookups for caravan parks and marinas. And, yeah, the EV evolved out of that. So, the first EV was the wall pods that Rolex made for the domestic market, and it was a large caravan hookup box adapted as an EV charger. And they're still, yeah. They're still all over the place. My neighbour down the road still has one, you know, in front of his house. And they're still a popular unit.

Naomi Nye [00:07:39]:
So, you know, it was, you know, from back then where it was just a socket on the wall, just a dumb charger effectively, in that domestic space. Then it just grew from there, and I moved into EV, kind of full-time really, from around 2014, where I was building up the kind of corporate side of the EV business. And that was really then I did an amazing project with UPS in Camden and DPD, putting charge points in at DPD and all these other, you know, big companies and really kind of expanding it out. So, I feel like I've been in the EV space for a little while. But what really drew me to Drax was that whole end-to-end solution and that more holistic approach, which is really key.

Liz Allan [00:08:26]:
That's brilliant. And you've been, how long have you been at Drax now?

Naomi Nye [00:08:30]:
18 months now. Yeah. 18 months. When I joined Drax, I was quite surprised by the amazing stuff that we do. And I'm still trying to get my head around some of the amazing stuff. I'm not surprised. From some of the innovation that we're looking at around, with that, biomass and carbon capture storage and how it's moving into that space. And we have so many business experts that specialise in these individual areas.

Naomi Nye [00:09:00]:
And what's great is when we're talking to this bigger kind of corporate customers, and they have a lot of challenges understanding how they're going to decarbonise, how they start, and how we can support them on that. You're able to bring in several different people from across the different areas and say, right, you know, well, you asked about this, and I brought in Sansa to talk to you about this, and you've asked about, you know, this side of it and this is where we can support. So it's a very nurturing space to be working in. And it's exciting as well. It's exciting to know, you know, all the stuff happening in the background and everything that needs to happen to effectively get us to where we need to be. Right?

Liz Allan [00:09:42]:
Absolutely. So Drax is, obviously you've got Drax Village, so it's a UK company. How big is it? I don't even know how big Drax is.

Naomi Nye [00:09:52]:
Yeah. We're a global company, so we operate a number of different sites, including one in the UK. As part of that biomass, we generate pellets as well. On the pellet side of the business, we also work with foresters all over the world at various locations. So we've got assets in the UK.

Naomi Nye [00:10:16]:
We've got them in Canada and America. There might also be an office in Japan, off the top of my head. So, yeah. Don't quote me on that. I've just said that in front of thousands of people. And, yeah. We are a global company, bringing together several different things. So, we also supply those pellets that we make for the power station to other companies.

Naomi Nye [00:10:41]:
So we are looking to be a global leader in that side of the business too. That's leading to a lot of innovation, and it's ensuring we're working to strict forestry commissions and regulations. And for me, Drax, all those regulations and everything we do around, you know, health and safety only in a power station. You filter all these things that come into play through every single part of the business, and that's another thing I like about it. Because whilst a little bit too belt and braces in places. But you know that the belt and braces side is really important. And it gives the customer that confidence in you as well, you know, when you're doing things, you know, to a gold standard. That's where we stand, and that's probably why we have the customers we have over the length of time we have them.

Liz Allan [00:11:34]:
No. It's fantastic. In fact, do you know what? I was looking at a website called I am Kate the other day, which is a National Grid Live. Mhmm. I'm gonna look at it now while we're talking. So this is where we are on Monday night in November, and biomass is 6.3% of the overall power that's going through the energy that's going through the grid. 

Liz Allan [00:12:10]:
That's just amazing. And the stuff that, right, let's start taking it through the layers then. So you're the electric vehicle side of the company. Yeah. What does that do, and what are you? So you've got the turnkey solution. Yeah. What does that kind of involve, and who for?

Naomi Nye [00:12:29]:
Yeah. So, we're called electric vehicles, but we're not actually about the cars. We're about the infrastructure. So it's all about supporting that transition to electrification. So in terms of the way that we do that, we start right at the beginning where we're looking at kind of fleet assessments, really understanding business needs requirements, how do these vehicles move around, where are their dwell points, what's the site look like at that point, what's needed to go in the ground. In terms of hardware, we're actually agnostic. So we do AC and DC. We've installed over 14,000 electric vehicle charge points as a group.

Naomi Nye [00:13:03]:
And that's anything from domestic for those commercial vehicles taken home to the big 350 kilowatt DC rapid chargers. So we do the full range. But for us, the key is understanding what the customer needs, what they require, and how they need to do it. But then also working with them on that EV strategy that's not only gonna suit them now but will suit them longer term. So, keep future proof and stay flexible. The strategy side is key. I remember being at the Fleet Show a few weeks ago.

Naomi Nye [00:13:35]:
I was doing I was on a panel session with Sara Sloman. She was talking about strategy and saying that it's so important that strategy is flexible. It can't be fixed and rigid. And I'm just like, oh, it's just, you know, it completely makes sense. 

Liz Allan Naomi Nye [00:13:57]:
So, how do you support the charge point operator? 

Naomi Nye [00:14:07]:
So we look after them and manage those charge points on their behalf. We'll see an issue before they do. We also offer the service maintenance piece with really strict SLAs and KPIs.

Naomi Nye [00:14:12]:
So for us, it's holding their hand through that whole process, really understanding what they are trying to do, how they're trying to do it, and how we support those needs now but also in the future and have that partnership ongoing. So that's where we sit. And in terms of who that works for, you can do that for anyone. So we're not fussed about working with particular customers. But essentially, we sit as a company that is able to offer energy and flexibility services as well; it's working with probable locations. And those customers that may have, you know, a few more complexities, I guess, to their challenges, you know, really large fleets, maybe a lot of commercial vehicles that, you know, they're trying to transition without much disruption, cost critical vehicles, you know, these kind of things. And how do we bring all of that together for them? And that's where we come in and sit down and work through it all.

Liz Allan [00:15:07]:
Wow. And I was gonna say, just like you said about future-proofing and that, and as Sara was talking about, you were saying, you know, the flexible strategy. Mhmm. It's also, and of course, I'm gonna say this. It's about learning to continuously improve.

Naomi Nye [00:15:23]:
Absolutely.

Liz Allan [00:15:24]:
You know, and that's got to be part of the overall strategy as you move forward, but innovation, you've got the innovation strategy and improvement; is it an ever-evolving, never-ending wheel?

Naomi Nye [00:15:36]:
And not only that, I think you know we've said before you've got that to look at. You've then got the technology to bring into that and how that technology is moving so fast. You even think about your mobile phone. You buy a mobile phone within a month it's already out of date, right? So, how do you keep up with that technology and that innovation that's coming through? How do you then align that with the vehicles? The charge points we put in are universal. You know, going back to what I was talking about Tesla, Tesla kind of worked out this smooth process where they made a vehicle, and they made a charge point. They made the app, made the payment process, and put it all together seamlessly because they did it all in one package. What we're trying to come in, we're trying to put in universal charge points in that work across the board with vehicles that different size batteries that charge in different ways that, you know, businesses that have different requirements, different business needs, payment options, energy, thinking about that as a finite resource. How do you utilise that? Accessibility, the actual physical spaces of, you know, losing car parking spaces or combining that with, you know, health and safety, reverse parking plans, for example. You may not have reverse parking if you've got charging on the front of these vehicles.

Naomi Nye [00:16:52]:
Yeah. All these different things come into play, and you're topping that pot up. So when we talked at the beginning around, why did I move into this space? It was that challenge that every day, you know, a, you're supporting. I love what I'm doing because you've got that bigger picture. Right? And we're doing good for the world and etcetera etcetera. But, you know, when you break it down into every single day, you're always learning something new. There's always, you know, that process, and I love working with people and that people person piece pi well. Bringing it all together is definitely challenging.

Naomi Nye [00:17:34]:
And even now, you know, I still think we're a really long way away from getting there. We're getting better every day, and we're improving, but we still have a lot of work to do.

Liz Allan [00:17:45]:
When you just said challenges, I'd literally just write down challenges on the piece of paper in front of me. I wanted to ask you what you have seen because you've been in this industry for some time now. What have been the biggest challenges that are now gone? Oh, that was so easy compared to what we've got here. What's it looking like for you? Where are the biggest challenges for you?

Naomi Nye [00:18:12]:
So, I think, for me, a lot of this still sits around education. Education has always been the biggest challenge from day 1. And what we've been seeing over the last quite a long time is lots of misconceptions about electric vehicles. And I was at Sustainability Live last week. I've gone back to starting my presentations on why electric vehicles go right back to the beginning because people are so caught up with, oh, we've got to now buy electric vehicles. It's a technology, and I don't really understand technology, and I don't know how to charge it. And we're always getting why we're doing this in the 1st place and where is it going and what does that look like and really understanding the market side of it, where is regulation legislation taking us with that mandate and this kind of things. How does that come into play? How does that affect you as a business? Because you've almost got a bit of a carrot, and you've got a bit of a stick. And you've got this whole piece in the middle, where you've got many different stakeholders involved who don't know where to start. And that's the biggest thing, Liz.

Naomi Nye [00:19:16]:
When we're talking to businesses in particular, like where does it, where do we start? Where does it sit? Does it sit with energy? Does it sit with procurement? Does it sit with the fleet manager who's looking at the vehicles? Are they supposed to put in the infrastructure as well? And so it falls through a lot of gaps. And then I think, you know, when you get to the point where you say right now I am gonna put in some charging. I've got some vehicles that need some charging. Now it's like there's so much choice out there. I don't know what's the difference. And it's always about the right kit in the right location doing the right job. That behaviour shifts between moving away from an ICE vehicle into an electric vehicle and actually just shifting away from that. How do I then bring my drivers on board? And that's really important.

Naomi Nye [00:20:00]:
Driver training, driver days, you know, getting them activated and and really understanding, you know, what the business is trying to achieve and why. So we have to put a whole load of things together. But when you think about all the different parts, the hardware, the software, and the payment systems, it all comes down to education. It all comes down to having an understanding of what you're trying to do, how you're trying to do it, and then also having the expertise in there to make sure it's working. If it's working, it should be easy. Right? It should be really straightforward. You want that smooth EV driver experience where they're just gonna go and plug in, and it will work. 1st and foremost, that's the main thing.

Naomi Nye [00:20:41]:
It's gonna work. And then when it does, you know, it's given you that straightforward as we're moving more away from the early adoption and just starting to move into mass adoption. I know people talk about we're in that phase. We're in the very early stages of mass adoption. But people want convenience, don't they? They want convenience and ease and they don't want to be standing fiddling with charging stations. I've had some experiences where I had to come away from the Tesla network and use some other charges. And I couldn't get my card to work, and then it it just took ages to start, and I was like, literally had 12 miles, and I thought, no, I really need to get this starting. And it's painful, isn't it? And it's stressful because when you add your time delay into that and you think, well, I didn't plan on stopping here now.

Naomi Nye [00:21:31]:
I ended up stopping here because I got waylaid because of whatever. So it's got to be smooth, and we've got to pull together. And I think that's where you have this collaboration piece, which I just think is so exciting. You know, the amount of people in the EV rally is a perfect example of that. How many people were there? Yeah, just coming together and working together. It was amazing.

Liz Allan [00:21:54]:
It was it was amazing. And do you know what? I liked some of the checkpoints that we stopped at, especially one in Exeter, where a lady came over to talk to me. I talked to her, and she was already driving an EV, but she wanted to know what we were all doing. And there were other, you know, other stops, and checkpoints where they were going, so what are you doing? Yeah. Because, yes, that woman was driving an EV, but other people weren't. Because some people think that they should have had a decision, they should have had a referendum or something like that about, you know, whether we should move to an EV or not. I mean, look at the last one. So that's anything to go by. Oh, it went a bit wrong.

Naomi Nye [00:22:43]:
It did.

Liz Allan [00:22:43]:
So, you know, people think they're being some people you're all you're never gonna make everybody happy. Still, I think, like you say, the education side of things, because there's been so much negativity about things, because there's been so much negativity about EVs. And the network full stop, it's about cutting through all that crap. And okay. We know you're a petrol head, that kind of comment.

Liz Allan [00:23:17]:
That's the kind of thing that you like, and I've seen this on the Auto Trader website. They do something. I think they do it on Facebook Page or their website or something like that where they'll invite somebody who's gone, oh, EVs are crap, you know, on. And they take them out. There'll be a trained EV racing driver, and he'll take them on a lap. Yeah. And then you just see their face going, oh my god. This is amazing. And those are the little bits.

Liz Allan [00:23:48]:
We've got to keep increasing the volume of those kinds of education pieces to get that word out there, you know, haven't we? And it's gotta people have gotta hear the truth from and even if it is somebody being taken around a track and going like that. It's that kind of thing that will appeal to the petrolhead. It'll appeal to this person. It'll appeal to that person. It's about increasing that level of volume to my mind.

Naomi Nye [00:24:17]:
Absolutely. And it's making sure—I completely agree—that the right information cuts through to the right people. Because I think it's very easy when you're in the industry and you see the amount of innovation happening, and there is some incredible stuff happening. And, you know, I talk to people, and they're like, oh, this is happening, and this is gonna be the next big thing.

Naomi Nye [00:24:35]:
And I go 5 years from now. And they're like, you've said 5 years from now for the last 10 years. And I go, yes. Because commercially and for the, you know, Joe Brown out there that's still deciding whether to move into EV or not and still having those conversations, we're still a long way from that kind of commercial choices happening and making sense and being at a point where they are commercially viable. And that's the difference. You can do all this fantastic stuff, and all that innovation is key to keep it moving forward. But it's about introducing it into the market in the right way, moving forward and making it viable for people.

Naomi Nye [00:25:12]:
And I think that's the bit that sometimes gets a little bit forgotten when we're looking at all the technology, and we're so excited about everything coming through. That actually is only going to work if you've got a customer on the end of it, that is, embracing it, putting it in the ground, and working with it on a day-to-day basis. So there is still an awful lot of work to do, but we're gonna get there. I have every faith.

Liz Allan [00:25:38]:
And, especially for the charging network, as you said, with regards to, you know, the workplace charging or whoever you know, big fleet charging for big fleets and stuff like that.

Naomi Nye [00:25:49]:
Yeah.

Liz Allan [00:25:50]:
The companies that take it on don't know what their drivers think, do they? No. So it is about getting that positive; it's about telling them the truth rather than what they may have read in the newspaper or whatever.

Naomi Nye [00:26:07]:
Yeah. We do a lot of work around EV drivers, driver days, you know, spending time with the drivers, and getting involved in the EV policies going out. It's taking it that one step further because people must understand, you know, what the business is trying to do and how that's gonna work for them personally. So when those kit going in the ground or suddenly they've been given a commercial vehicle, they'll have to take it home. And they're like, well, what? And take it off my own electricity bill? And now I'm gonna have to have a charge point put at home and, you know, all of these other things. There are lots of things that you have to start bringing into play. Or even if they're not taking it home and charging it at home and using the public network, I've got to take half an hour out of my day. I'm not gonna take my lunchtime to do that.

Naomi Nye [00:26:50]:
So, how do we get that driver engagement to initiate that behaviour change but also have the enthusiasm and, you know, encourage that in a really, really positive way? So that's all part of those early conversations, that education piece, and everything we have to do. And I think, you know, as a company where we sit building those early relationships and having that kind of consultancy piece, you're really understanding what those challenges could be. I also have that expertise, as well as all the previous work that we've done with previous companies and their complexities and difficulties, and I am bringing all that together. We're really in a unique position to be at the forefront of that. So it works really well.

Liz Allan [00:27:34]:
And it's really good that you're involved, like you just said, in that next step, which is policy development, because you confirmed that you can't just stop there. If you stop there, you're kinda going, mate. See you later. Thanks, thanks for that. Yeah. Bye. Waving them down the road, you know, and you're going you know? And that more personal, that poor organisation.

Liz Allan [00:27:57]:
It's about the hand holding.

Naomi Nye [00:27:59]:
Absolutely. Yeah. Absolutely. And there are a lot of companies out there that just put kit in the ground and walk away. And then you just think, for companies, because if they haven't taken that engagement step, they haven't had that consultation piece, if you like. They haven't got that data. They haven't done the planning, which is key to any part of this for me. They are planning and thinking about what they need.

Naomi Nye [00:28:24]:
They can end up making some expensive mistakes. So, even on LinkedIn, we try to put a lot of educational material out there. We try to take people through these things to think about and bear in mind. You know, if you want some advice, just call us. That's fine. We're happy.

Naomi Nye [00:28:40]:
We can do that because it can be quite an expensive mistake if you get it wrong.

Liz Allan [00:28:46]:
Because of the chargers themselves, I don't know the price, to be honest, of the AC charges as such, but I do know the cost of some of the DC chargers. Yeah. And they're not they're not cheap, are they? We're talking thousands, and you've got all the installation costs. Yeah, You know, the payment in, you know, and all the back office systems and that big bowl of soup. That's the wrong word, isn't it? You don't get a bowl of soup. Do you know what I mean?

Naomi Nye [00:29:14]:
Stew. Like stew, I think. Yeah.

Liz Allan [00:29:17]:
I was, you know, thinking of spaghetti, and it came out of soup.

Naomi Nye [00:29:21]:
Spaghetti is about right.

Liz Allan [00:29:24]:
I'm getting tired now. But yeah, it's a big task to put all this stuff together, isn't it? And if you get one bit wrong, it could just unravel the whole thing, can't it?

Naomi Nye [00:29:39]:
Yeah. That's why I think you have to engage with all of those different stakeholders; they're right in that it doesn't just sit with one area. It shouldn't just be with procurement looking at that bottom line and saying how much this will cost and which budget it will come out of. It needs to be part of that energy piece to understand how we're using the energy. The fleet manager has to be involved so he understands what the vehicles have to do when they're on-site to support that transition. Sustainability, you know, just goes on in facilities management. It goes on and on with all these different people. So you have to engage all of those stakeholders and bring all of those on board at the same time, which is why often when we're looking at trying to put EV into the ground, even if we're only looking at a few jobs, but it can end up being, you know, a longer-term project because not only have you got all that, you know, site capacity, hardware, cabling, groundwork, civils, all of that great stuff, You've also got all of that initial work where you're bringing everyone on board and making sure that everybody's completely in line with what's happening when disruption to the business, cost critical vehicles, you know, all of that is happening at the same time.

Naomi Nye [00:30:47]:
And then, when you add on all the other layers, how do people pay for it? You know, financing, bringing the finance inside, bringing the payment solutions and those different options in, adding in load management and smart charging, and then you throw in some regs.

Liz Allan [00:31:03]:
And you're like, oh, okay.

Naomi Nye [00:31:05]:
Your next lot has encountered a new lot of regulations. So, this is what we're doing this time. So, yeah. It's just making sure. I think if you've got that education piece and you're upfront and open and honest and, you know, you're there for your customers, then you won't go wrong.

Liz Allan [00:31:24]:
What you're saying is that it's about joined-up thinking, right? Yeah. You know, it's like you say, it's joined-up thinking, having ducks in a row. However, many, you know, anecdotes I want, but it's just making sure that you've thought of everything, which at the beginning, you and I were talking about on another podcast. At the beginning, you don't know what you don't know. No. You are a big company, but this was a venture into you don't know what you don't know because you know energy, but it's kinda, you know? Yeah. So, going into that, you're learning as you go through. But then, once you pick up all the pieces, you know it.

Liz Allan [00:32:06]:
And you kind of go, you probably. I don't know whether the end-to-end turnkey solution is adapted, but I'm assuming it is.

Naomi Nye [00:32:13]:
Yeah, absolutely. Yes. It's completely bespoke to individual customers as well, so we can do different sites. It's about understanding what works for you and what works for your needs. Again, I think that was another draw for me with Drax because you're not trying to fit a solution to a customer. And, you know, in the back of your mind, you're like, this isn't quite right.

Naomi Nye [00:32:33]:
Or they will struggle with this in 6 months, a year, or whatever. This is about going, right? Well, we're gonna build a solution out. And at Drax, we have we have quite a large EV team. But we have a whole area, a whole team of people who look at products and propositions, solutions, and regulations. So they are just a full, you know, a load of people that just spend all day thinking about solutions, products, you know, what's coming in, how does that fit with regulations, what's the new technology coming in, how can we build that into something, all reacting to customers. We're now at a point where we work so closely with customers. They almost have a bit of a wish list. They're like, what I would like is, you know, like, well, that doesn't exist, but let me go away and see what I can do.

Naomi Nye [00:33:20]:
And that's all part of it because you can look at it and go, well, it doesn't exist, but it should do. Maybe we can think about this and make it even better by doing a, b, and c. So that's what I think as well where you have that collaboration piece because you're never gonna have one single customer or one single business that will be able to cover everything. And uniquely, I think in this space we are very different probably from other industries in that even when we're looking at if I just think about sales and marketing perspective, which is kind of where I am, even putting that out to customers and saying who are we targeting and you kind of target people. Well, EV is anywhere you can park a car. So you're like, okay. That's a bit of a tricky marketing campaign. And that's the thing.

Naomi Nye [00:34:09]:
You're bringing in many different things and areas of industry, businesses, innovation, technology, finance, and government. You know, you have to bring it all together, and you have to work well. And the people in this industry working for those different companies across the board, you know, and you see at the shows and the events that we go to. You saw it at the rally. You saw it. We, you know, come together, and everyone pulls together similarly. Everyone's just like, you know, even we did the fleet show at the EV Cafe at Park Village. And what happens is in that space, I can have a customer come over and talk to me, and I'll be like, I can't help with that, you know, particular area, but I'm gonna take you over here, and I'm gonna hand you over to because this person can.

Naomi Nye [00:34:57]:
So we all know what each other does and how we do it, and it's just such a lovely place to be. It's really nice to think that that's my job and that's what I do, and yeah, it's fab.

Liz Allan [00:35:10]:
I was going to talk to you about your collaboration with the EV Cafe because I know you've been involved in most EV Cafe villages, you know, kind of villages, haven't you? Which is quite interesting, isn't it? Because there are a lot, a fair amount of different organisations, as you say, but you can cross-refer if people come. You know you know these answers, but actually, for this bit, you need to go there.

Naomi Nye [00:35:39]:
Yeah.

Liz Allan [00:35:39]:
And at least if you can point them in the right direction, that's always good.

Naomi Nye [00:35:43]:
Yeah. Absolutely. And again, that's what it's about. Right? It's about everybody working together. I've rarely come across any kind of bizarre competitiveness in this industry. There'll be customers that might do a similar thing or a slightly similar proposition or slightly similar solution in one area. However, you're still working together to make things happen, and it's just, yeah, happy and friendly. 

Naomi Nye [00:36:09]:
Lovely space. So yeah, that's exactly how it works, Liz. Do you want some telematics? Come on. Let me take you over here and chat with Webfleet. They'll help, you know, or whatever. And it does.

Naomi Nye [00:36:20]:
It works really well.

Liz Allan [00:36:22]:
And actually, it's a bit like going back to the networking days where you would go, you know, I used to do this. We'd go to kinda like the I hated this, but the 7 o'clock breakfast meeting.

Naomi Nye [00:36:33]:
Oh, yes.

Liz Allan [00:36:34]:
It's still on, you know.

Liz Allan [00:36:36]:
But, you've got to know the companies in those breakfast meetings, and then you know that you could refer to people because you've got to know them. In fact, it's probably it's over 10 - 15 years ago that I met my web developer, I know from those meetings, yeah, and I still work with him, you know so it's just things like that. But it's kind of going back to that bit. It's like the modern. I sound like an old bag now. But it's just an up-to-date version of that, isn't it? But you've got it all there for customers to come and check out, and that's really innovative of the EV Cafe because, obviously, you know, that's what they do. They're good at doing that kind of stuff. But bringing you in is fantastic.

Naomi Nye [00:37:23]:
And it works so well for us as a business as well. Right? Because out of that, you're developing partnerships. So for customers that want, you know, that relationship where we're looking after everything for them on that end-to-end solution, we can have partners in place that can add on those bells and whistles, but they don't have to have a number of different contracts with different companies or different groups. They can keep it so that we are the contact and they have the contract with us, and we look after everything else in the background to make it work and bring it together. So we have various partnerships in place because, you know, you have to add those bells and whistles to come up with those bespoke solutions to make it work for people. And work, you know, in a very collaborative way, and I think I've said collaborative about 25 times on this call. I am so sorry.

Liz Allan [00:38:14]:
No. Please don't. Please don't apologise because that's what it's all about, you know. That is what it's all about. I want to ask you about what it is this is gonna be multiple things, but what does a day in the life of Naomi look like? 

Naomi Nye [00:38:31]:
Oh blimey. Yeah. It depends on what day of the week it is.

Liz Allan [00:38:39]:
If it's an EV rally that day, then it's probably getting up at about 6 a.m. Yeah, 360 miles, singing to Ant and Dec with hats on. 

Naomi Nye [00:38:56]:
The things you do to entertain yourself while you're in a car for 12 hours. Yeah, it was definitely interesting. Yeah, I think a day in the life I think I'm very, I think with my role, so my role touches, quite a lot of things really because it can be very forward facing, you know, in terms of being with customers and being on the road and out meeting them, teams meetings, whatever. I think I also kind of sit around that strategy side a little bit. So, you know, what's that strategy look like? How are we getting these new product solutions out there? Dealing with those different areas, so products and solutions, kind of make sure that we're feeding that back to get the right products in place. So we work very closely as a kind of leadership team, if you like, across the different areas in EV so that we all come together and ensure that everybody is very cohesive and everything is working very well, and we have that real joined-up approach. And then I think as well, you know, spending a lot of time with the team and, yeah, just making sure that we're all where we need to be and doing what we need to do.

Naomi Nye [00:40:03]:
So work is work. It is crazy sometimes. It is very busy sometimes. I get involved in a lot of the, events and the marketing and various presentations and panels and things like that as well, which are slightly outside my comfort zone if I'm honest, but, we do them. Then, weekends are very different because I'm with the boys or my grandson. I've got a little 3 year old grandson who's just incredible. 

Liz Allan [00:40:29]:
How's that possible? You don't?

Naomi Nye [00:40:30]:
I'm definitely old. Yeah. And spending time with him. So, yeah, it's, it's a full week.

Liz Allan [00:40:39]:
Okay. Well, I tell you what, I'm gonna I'm gonna end on this question.

Naomi Nye [00:40:43]:
Okay.

Liz Allan [00:40:44]:
Right. So, if you could give one piece of advice to an organisation that was starting to transition its fleet to EVs, what would that one piece of advice be other than coming to Drax?

Naomi Nye [00:40:58]:
Yeah. I actually had that in a panel session. I was like, just call me. Just call me. I'll do it. Yeah. No. For me, it's understanding your data and planning.

Naomi Nye [00:41:10]:
That's always the first step. So understand, what am I trying to do? Where's my low-hanging fruit? You know, what can I do quickly? Don't try and think you have to do everything at once because you don't. Think about it as a long-term. You're going to be dipping in and out of this EV strategy over several years. And you're going to be thinking about what I need now, what I need, and you might not know what you need now, so you're not going to know what you need in a year or 5 years' time. So understand what your data is. What do my vehicles do? How do they move? Which ones can I electrify? What are the miles? What are the payloads? What are the dwell times? How, then, am I going to start planning and moving forward? And get the experts in early. Get the experts in at that beginning stage that can support you, do a design for you, and understand where you need to be and, where you're going and how you're gonna get there and build it out piece by piece.

Naomi Nye [00:42:05]:
So, planning, data, and thinking about that. Think about the design that sits behind that to achieve what you need to achieve. And then the layer of that is the financial layer that then you kind of think about how is that gonna come out, whether that's gonna be through financing, leasing, CapEx payments, you know. However, it's gonna work. And from there, you can build out your strategy and how that's gonna sit and keep your strategy adaptable. So think about putting a kit in the ground that's going to be future-proof and flexible. Don't tie yourself into 10 15-year terms because you know that you're going to get yourself into trouble. Think about the kit. Can I upgrade it? Am I putting in things that, you know, simple stuff for AC? Is it on an open platform? So if something happens to the provider or the back office, can I still keep that hardware and put another provider in place? So there's all sorts of things there to think about. But planning expertise right at the beginning will support you all the way through.

Liz Allan [00:43:01]:
Oh, that's brilliant. Actually, the final final question? What do you want to achieve in the next few years?

Liz Allan [00:43:10]:
What do you wanna work on? You can answer whichever way you want. I don't mind.

Naomi Nye [00:43:15]:
Yeah. We all know, right, electric vehicles are here to stay. And I think, you know, building on that and seeing where that technology is going is really interesting. But equally, for me, it's ensuring we're protecting our resources. And that is absolutely key. So, looking at it from a holistic viewpoint, understand not only what you're trying to achieve but also what resources you have to use to achieve it. And, yeah, I think over the next 5 years, I would just beompletely see myself doing exactly what I'm doing today, hopefully just with lots more people, with having lots more charge points out there and continuing to keep that running, keep it growing.

Liz Allan [00:44:00]:
Brilliant. Thank you. Aw. Honestly, it's been lovely talking to you. It really, really has. It's just yeah. I'm going to make sure that all of your links and everything like that are in the show notes so that people can contact you. Naomi is on LinkedIn.

Liz Allan [00:44:17]:
She's, you know, on a variety of different platforms. Are you on a variety of different platforms? I think you are,

Naomi Nye [00:44:23]:
 Drax Electric Vehicles, Drax Energy Services, Drax Group, you know, you can come through. You can find out all the exciting stuff, see what we're doing, and see the websites that are out there that I can share with you, Liz, and you can pop on. Go on to see the different aspects of the business, what we're doing, how we're doing it. And if I can support anyone, you know, I'm I'm always contactable. Drop me a line, give me a call, and I'm more than happy to just have a chat. And, yeah, if I can support in any way just let me know.

Liz Allan [00:44:51]:
Fantastic. As I usually do at the end of my podcast now, I say thank you very much for listening and watching. If you want to spread the word, it would be very much appreciated so that people can hear what Drax, Naomi, and her team do. So share it, like it, and comment on it. Anything like that is always very, very much appreciated because the more we do that, the more we start spreading it.

Naomi Nye [00:45:22]:
Absolutely.

Liz Allan [00:45:22]:
More people will learn the truth rather than hear the old shizzle in the media.

Naomi Nye [00:45:28]:
Thank you so much for having me, Liz. It's been lovely speaking to you this afternoon.

Liz Allan [00:45:35]:
And you and you and to everybody else, thank you ever so much, and I shall see you next time. Bye.