Charlie Low
Meet Charlie 👋
Role: Co-founder
Background: BSc Physics with Astrophysics, Head of Analytics & Insight
First-hand experience: Living in & working from a campervan, living in an off-grid home
Published work: The Van Conversion Bible
Areas of expertise: Van conversions · Campervan electrical system design · Data analysis · Off-grid living · Van life and remote travel
Experience and expertise
Charlie combines a scientific mindset with deep practical experience in van conversions and campervan electrical systems. She holds a BSc in Physics with Astrophysics and before co-founding Nohma, she spent five years as Head of Analytics & Insight for an adventure travel company. She also built the backend software that automatically designs Nohma’s bespoke electrical systems using more than 200 variables, and co-authored The Van Conversion Bible – bringing together data, software and real-world van conversion expertise.
Articles written by Charlie ✍️
Personal story
Charlie loved maths and astronomy when she was young, and always dreamed of being an astronaut. She studied Astrophysics at university, and went on to use her maths skills working as Head of Analytics & Insight for a small adventure travel company, selling trips to the ends of the earth (but unfortunately not beyond!).
In her 5 years of working a 9 to 5 office job, Charlie learnt a broad range of skills, delving deep into the world of data analytics, software development and digital marketing. She quickly became an integral part of the company, working as part of the management team involved with the company’s strategic planning.
However, when covid hit Charlie ended up furloughed for a number of months, and this gave her the time to reassess her ambitions and focus. Although she enjoyed her job, she was tired of spending her life office-bound and living for weekends and holidays. She found the lack of flexibility of a 9 to 5 job frustrating, and she was ready for a big change.
She spent her time furloughed building up content for Nohma’s website (the, ‘Nomadic Energy’ and ‘Climbingvan’), and this (and a number of lockdowns!) led to her and Dale beginning to write The Van Conversion Bible. Whilst writing their book, Charlie and Dale quickly realised that the electrical system was the area of a van conversion that people were most worried and apprehensive about, so they set about creating an electrical system design service.
Charlie put her physics degree to good use and started to develop the clever systems and algorithms behind Nomadic Energy. She’s at her best when working on a difficult maths challenge or diving deep into a complicated spreadsheet, so building a sophisticated electrical system calculator was right up her street.
When she’s not working, Charlie spends as much of her time as she can outdoors, climbing and exploring beautiful new landscapes. She has been climbing for over ten years, and loves nothing more than being outside on the rock, whether on a sunny Spanish sport climb, an alpine mountain, or a rugged British sea cliff. Charlie also organises an annual women’s climbing festival, the Women’s Trad Festival, combining her passion for climbing with her love of spreadsheets and all things organisation.
As well as climbing, Charlie loves to get a different perspective on things by getting off the beaten track and exploring remote areas on a multi-day hike, or from the water by paddleboard. Inspired by some hardy friends, she has recently been finding the enjoyment and challenge of cold water swimming.
Since April 2021, Charlie has been living and travelling in her climbing home on wheels, Ringo, travelling the UK, Europe, and the Americas. She has enjoyed finding a better work life balance, swapping daily commutes for walks to the climbing crag, and working when she feels most productive, with a different view from her ‘office’ each day.
Seeing everything grow organically from just myself and Dale starting Nohma from our campervan, to a team of 17 working nomadically across the world, has been pretty magic.
Charlie Low, Co-founder
Her and Dale recently took their adventures to a new level, getting married on top of a mountain in Yosemite National Park. After their honeymoon in Baja California Sur, they drove further south down the Pan American highway, all the way to Patagonia. Keep your eyes peeled to find out what their next adventure will be…
Campervan electrics leaving you confused?
