How do we Plan for Electric Vehicles, Climate Change, and Community Health?

In 2024, there were 26.8 million motor vehicles registered in Canada. Rural areas have sparse, dispersed populations. Residents rely on ownership of private vehicles to get to work, home, school and recreation. According to the Ontario Living Wage network, the Southwest region of Ontario is considered to have one of the highest annual transportation costs. A family of four has an estimated annual transportation expense of $13,419!

These escalating costs of rural vehicle ownership and pollution from gas engines have an impact on the health and environment of rural spaces. Transforming options for everyday mobility to promote community health is something municipalities and regions can plan for.

Webinar – Exploring Some of the Myths and Realities of Electric Vehicle Ownership

On May 5th, 2026, Gateway Centre of Excellence in Rural Health explored the complex relationships between “Climate Change, Planning for EV’s and Community Health.” This discussion was focused on a combination of exploring some of the day-to-day experiences of electric vehicle ownership, the current networks of chargers, and myth-busting some of the more pervasive fictions.

This webinar featured Dr. Wayne Caldwell, professor emeritus of the University of Guelph, Derry Wallis, Climate Change and Energy Specialist, and Jason Geberdt, Manager of IT Infrastructure and Operations at the County of Huron.

Rural innovation was at the forefront of the discussion. As Dr. Wayne Caldwell describes, “people often think of EVs as an urban solution, I think they are a rural solution for a variety of reasons, one of which the cost of operating a vehicle is much less for an EV.” Dr. Caldwell provides examples of other features such as lower overall emissions and the increasing affordability of EVs.

Gebert describes benefits included having a back-up battery during power outages and that the installation of a home-charging station is often easier to set-up rurally – people that live in single-family detached homes face fewer barriers for installation. In agreement, a report for Natural Resources Canada found that retrofitting multi-family homes (condos, apartments, ect), are a large cost-barrier for electric vehicle adoption. Additionally, there may greater upfront cost involved with buying an electric vehicle, but less maintenance with fewer moving parts.

Myth Busting

The webinar goes on to talk about some of the myths that currently exist regarding electric vehicles. Wallis and Dr. Caldwell take turns describing six myths. These range from electric vehicles will overload the electrical grid to electric vehicles will not work in rural areas. As they demonstrate, most vehicle charging happens at home, overnight, during off-peak hours. Essentially charging happens when demand is lowest.

There are some unfortunate realities: Winter does reduce the capacity of the battery life and the resulting potential distance to travel. As electric vehicle technology continues to improve and there are an increasing number of drivers.

Regional Partnership is Needed

One of the biggest barriers to transition to electric vehicles is the availability of chargers. Regional partnerships are instrumental in enabling people to drive further and visit other rural sites for work or recreation. Gateway CERH has previously explored the importance of regional approaches public transit with Stephanie Stewart from the County of Grey. The natural travel pattern for picking up groceries or visiting friends.

As part of the Rural ReCharge collaboration, Grey, Bruce, Huron, Dufferin, Wellington and Perth Counties have collaborated in identifying network gaps and have planned sites based on natural travel patterns. Types of chargers matters – how fast people can charge can change travel patterns. Speakers add that this is one step in the process. They encourage places to lead by example: update municipal zoning, plan for accessibility and choose where you want chargers both regionally and locally.

Derry advocates that change is needed soon to help reduce the impacts of climate change and promote community health. She explains that “we are seeing impacts on our community on a regular basis. We are seeing more extreme weather events, more storms, more floods, more heatwaves.”

The full episode is available on the Gateway CERH YouTube Channel, click here to watch. Thank You to Our Sponsors!

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