Coalition explores battery-powered micro-mobility in healthcare

May 18th, 2023 • Autumn Sypus & Kent Waddington

COMBERMERE - A new zero emission vehicle initiative advancing awareness, support and adoption of battery-powered micro-mobility (BPMM) solutions in Canada’s health services sector has just come on the scene.

The Canadian Coalition for Green Health Care has been granted the privilege of delivering the new micro-mobility project with funding from Natural Resources Canada’s Zero Emission Vehicle Awareness Initiative which supports Canada’s commitment to clean fuels and transportation.

Over the course of the next year, the project team will undertake a national outreach and education campaign to increase public awareness, knowledge, and confidence in zero-emission vehicles, specifically battery-powered micro-mobility solutions, aimed at accelerating their adoption in the health sector.

In particular, and with the assistance of its many collaborators, the Coalition will be developing an extensive online resource page, numerous case studies and user profiles, a video on the benefits of BPMM, and technical fact sheets, together with infographics and a slide deck for BPMM champions wishing to engage in-house colleagues.

A short online survey is also available to help gather information from health sector workers to better understand their knowledge and usage of BPMM solutions both at work and in their personal lives. The Coalition invites all health care workers with an interest in battery-powered micro-mobility solutions to take the new survey available HERE.

Further, questions have been added to the latest version of Canada’s Green Hospital Scorecard (www.greenhealthcare.ca/ghs) to gather annual sectoral data on the adoption of BPMM solutions. A number of webinars will round out the project.

The long list of collaborators includes leading organisations from within and Canadian health sector, industry and academia including the Canadian Healthcare Engineering Society, PEACH Health Ontario, Canadian College of Health Leaders, Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment, University of Toronto’s Centre for Sustainable Health Systems, Canadian Federation of Nurse Unions, Sunnybrook Health Sciences, the Canadian Electric Bike Association, the Canadian Automotive Museum, DCL Healthcare, Blackstone Energy, VCT Group and the Yukon Home Care Project.

Each collaborator was chosen specifically for their strategic positioning within the various stakeholder groups and are considered to be among Canada’s most consequential and credible sources of knowledge.

Transportation accounts for a quarter of Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions (GHG), of which almost half comes from passenger cars and trucks.

The Government of Canada is steadfast in its conviction to the electrification of Canada’s vehicles, as well as a shift to cleaner fuels. These solutions are key to the decarbonisation of our transportation sector. In fact, Canada’s strengthened climate plan, A Healthy Environment and A Healthy Economy, highlighted that building a stronger, cleaner transportation system as Canada recovers from the pandemic, is an investment that will pay off — delivering economic and environmental benefits for decades to come.

The Coalition hopes the awareness materials created throughout the course of this project will help to further the investment in clean transportation solutions as we work towards a cleaner transportation system. At the core of this system will be public institutions such as schools and hospitals. With a long history of helping those in the health sector adopt environmentally sustainable practices, the Coalition believes they are well positioned to support the health systems contribution to decarbonizing the transportation sector.

Share your passion for this growing component of the transportation sector and help guide program development and rollout. The time is now to connect with the Coalition and be engaged in this new initiative. They are seeking input from across the health sector by way of the survey linked above, as well as direct communication with those interested in case study and user profile participation.

If you have interesting research and resources to share; if your health care facility has integrated or is in the process of integrating BPMM infrastructure such as charging and storage; if you a USER of BPMM solutions; or if you are interested in other ways you can be engaged, please contact the lead researcher, Autumn Sypus at autumn@greenhealthcare.ca

Stay up to date on project progress by signing up for the Coalition’s free bi-weekly Green Digest (www.greenhealthcare.ca/digest) or visit https://greenhealthcare.ca/micro-mobility/ to learn more.