Ontario has every stage in the EV supply chain right here at home

This Matters

This Matters is pleased to publish episodes of the Toronto Star's podcast, "Road Trip: Electric Avenues," every Saturday. The next episode will be available next week here, or already in the Road Trip feed.

Ontario is virtually unique in the world. Thanks to plentiful natural resources, clean energy and a large automotive sector, it has every stage in the EV supply chain right here at home. In theory, the province could mine the metals, make the batteries, produce the steel and assemble the electric car entirely in the province. But to plot a way to a more prosperous and environmentally responsible future, we need to look at our past. That’s why we headed to Cobalt, one of Ontario’s biggest mining boom towns, where great wealth was hauled out of the ground for more than a century, and now, very little remains. In episode three, we meet up with Charlie Angus, the local MP, former punk rocker, journalist and amateur historian.

Toronto Star photographer Steve Russell and climate change reporter Marco Chown Oved went on a road trip through northern Ontario in the dead of winter. It was cold, blizzarding and icy. They travelled 2,300 km during the coldest week of the year. And they did it in an electric vehicle (EV).