She’s Electric Local Programme – Empowering More Women in 2025

As we celebrate International Women’s Day on Sunday, 9 March we recognise the incredible contributions of women in shaping the future of sustainable and active travel. At Modeshift, we are committed to fostering a more inclusive and diverse transport sector—one where women feel empowered to lead, innovate, and drive change.

That’s why we’re proud to champion the She’s Electric Local Programme, a key initiative designed to support and inspire more women to take on leadership roles in sustainable travel. By breaking down barriers, amplifying voices, and creating opportunities, we are building a future where sustainable travel is more accessible and equitable for everyone.

In this guest blog post, Caz Conneller shines a spotlight on the She’s Electric Local Programme and a meeting through Modeshift that led to inspire and enable more women to embrace active travel.

She’s Electric Local Programme – Empowering More Women in 2025

Loud Mobility aims to inspire more women to embrace active travel with the She’s Electric Local Programme. Partnering with local authorities and large organisations, our mission is to connect with communities and empower more women to e-cycle as part of their daily lives.

The Power of Role Models

As International Women’s Day 2025 approaches, I reflect on my journey in active travel and the importance of strong role models in encouraging more women to cycle and e-cycle.

My own journey began when I saw a woman effortlessly gliding through a park on a Dutch bike, dressed stylishly. That image sparked my desire to start cycling—and later to inspire others by founding Cyclechic, a lifestyle brand selling stylish cycling accessories and promoting cycling to more women. Seeing the impact of role models firsthand, I made it a cornerstone of my current work designing behaviour change programmes and creative campaigns at Loud Mobility.

At Loud, we balance inspiration with hands-on experience. We provide opportunities for women to try e-cycling, ask questions, and overcome barriers to active travel alongside celebrating role models to inspire and motivate.

The Evolution of She’s Electric

Two years ago, I launched She’s Electric to enable and inspire more women to adopt e-cycles for transport, having heard so many positive stories from women about how electric bikes have enabled them.

Last year, we hosted a landmark event in Central London as part of Earthfest, closing a road off to traffic and transforming it into the She’s Electric track. Attendees test-rode e-bikes, from cargo bikes to trikes, and we launched our Role Model campaign in conjunction. We celebrated women of all ages, body types, and backgrounds, showcasing how e-bikes support their everyday lives. The campaign gained great press coverage and social media traction along with public and industry support.

She’s Electric Local: Bringing Change to Communities

But for 2025 we have a different direction to increase our impact on a local level. We are taking She’s Electric into communities with place-based initiatives that enable people, right where they live. Our She’s Electric Local Programme launched last year with our first partnership with Norfolk County Council’s Sustainable Transport Division, AtoBetter. Notably, this project was led by an all-women team which seems cause for celebration on IWD25.

Meeting through Modeshift to Inspire and Enable More Women

Our collaboration with AtoBetter began at a Modeshift event. I was invited to speak at The Business Stars Event last March, where I met Zoe Wilton, Senior Transport Planner at AtoBetter. Our shared passion for enabling active travel led to a beginning of a partnership. Modeshift is such a powerful connector, bringing together people from different organisations – but with a shared goal – together to explore how collaboration can lead to progress.

“We previously met Caz and Georgia at a Modeshift conference and were inspired by their values, which align closely with our project’s mission. Our goal is to encourage and support residents in our Aylsham development to explore e-cycles, fostering long-term engagement, and expanding this initiative further within the project”  Zoe Wilton & Kirstie Legget, AtoBetter

Working with Zoe and Kirstie, we developed a programme focused on the Aylsham Community and residents of the Willow Park housing development. We started with in-depth research, designing marketing and engagement strategies tailored to the community. Events were embedded locally, working with businesses to ensure lasting impact.

Impact & Results

Our main event in Aylsham drew over 100 attendees, with 50+ test rides—64% by women. Participants included people of all abilities and ages, with strong representation from our women and families.

We collaborated with eight local businesses, from cake-makers to cargo bike retailers, generating sales on the day and in the following weeks. But the most rewarding outcome was the personal case studies and the new role models created, couple of my favourites are:

• Dot, 70, who was never allowed to cycle as a child, took her first-ever ride on an electric trike with our instructor’s help.
• Maria 40’s, nervous about cycling with her children, gained confidence on a cargo bike and has since replaced her second car with an e-cargo bike.

These stories reflect the programme’s power to inspire real change in women’s lives. And we are exciting to be carrying in the work with Atobetter to develop a community ebike loan scheme to enable a low cost way for people to access the mode,

Next Steps: Expanding She’s Electric Local

We worked closely with Zoe and Kirstie throughout the project, ensuring hands-on collaboration. Now, we’re excited to continue our partnership with a new e-bike loan scheme pilot, making e-bikes accessible at an affordable rate. The pilot launches in spring/summer 2025.

This work is exciting—being in communities, understanding barriers, and tackling ingrained car habits. Through collaboration with county councils and skilled partners, we create tailored solutions that enable more people—especially women—to embrace active travel.

By next International Women’s Day, we hope to report on even greater impact.

If your organization wants to empower women in active travel and e-mobility, get in touch. Wed love to work with you to create more impact and enable more women and  raise the volume of joyful, sustainable journeys. caz@loudmobility.co.uk.

Caz Conneller is Director of Community & Culture at Loud Mobility. Loud Mobility are a social enterprise who deliver projects and campaigns to enable a more diverse range of people to adopt active and sustainable modes of transport.

Image credit: Honor Elliot Photographing Cycle Sisters member Nailia Majid.