S04EP05 - Donald Trump as electric vehicle saviour?
Ask most anyone who followed the recent U.S. presidential election, and they’ll tell you that one of the many things that Donald Trump is ‘anti’ about is electric vehicles. He plans to scrap the EV consumer rebate credit and put in place policies that favour Big Oil.
On the latest episode of the Motor Mouth Podcast, David Booth offers a stark contrast to those sentiments, and in fact also sees Trump promoting another one of his favourite ‘antis’ - China.
As always, David’s provocative thoughts and conclusions serve for a rollicking ride down the automotive highway.
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40:17
S04EP04 - U.S. election result could have big impact on Canada’s auto sector
Much has been written and said about U.S. President elect Donald Trump and tech billionaire Elon Musk, some flattering some not, but what cannot be denied is that neither man does anything in half measures. Now that Trump has won the election, in fairly dominant fashion it must be said, much speculation is making the rounds as to what role Musk will have in the 47th president’s administration.
Musk poured a reported US$130 million into Trump’s campaign war chest, so he’ll be looking for some kind of input into how the US government moves forward on segments near and dear to his wallet: namely, autonomous vehicles, electric vehicles, social media and space exploration.
Today we’ll hear David’s thoughts on what role Musk will play in the administration and what policies he’ll promote. And why that US$130 million is looking like money well spent, particularly in terms of turning Musk’s robotaxi dream come true.
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41:08
S04EP03 - U.S. election result could have big impact on Canada’s auto sector
The stakes are high south of the border as U.S. voters go to the polls on Tuesday to elect a new president, but lost in all the hype and hot air is how a Trump administration could have dire impacts on Canada’s automotive sector. David Booth has done the research and crunched the numbers and discovered some existential threats to our domestic industry, one of which we have no remedy for.
David has been burning the midnight oil this week researching such diverse subjects as the 60-year-old Canada-US Auto Pact, the United States Mexico Canada Agreement, the Inflation Reduction Act, Trump’s proposed car loan deductibility and why the hell is Elon Musk cozying up to Trump?
As always, it’s a rollicking discussion covering issues you probably haven’t even heard about, but are serious enough to have even David fearing what might be to come.
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43:04
S04EP02 - Has Renault created the perfect zero emission car?
Game changer. Two words that seemingly crop up every time an emerging electric vehicle technology, or even a new EV itself, make headlines. But in almost all cases, that new tech or that new vehicle is far from game-changing, and so stokes more skepticism, if not outright cynicism, about the electric vehicle industry.
David Booth, aka Motor Mouth, has long called the bluff on many of these so-called game changers, but on this week’s episode of the Motor Mouth Podcast we find the man himself bestowing just such a description on some tantalizing zero emission sorcery from, of all automakers, Renault. Has the French company really solved the puzzle that has perplexed the industry for over a century now? That is, zero emission running with no associated range anxiety.
Following that discussion David recounts an amazing experiment he experienced first hand in an Alberta laboratory involving a very unorthodox method of creation of hydrogen that could very well be, well, game changing.
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39:38
S04EP01 - The existential threat to legacy automakers
Season 4 of the Motor Mouth podcast kicks off with one of the hottest topics in the automotive industry, and that is the stunning rise of Chinese manufacturers and the subsequent stumbles of century old legacy automakers. Could we really see one of the world’s biggest car companies go out of business?
David has written extensively on this topic in his weekly Motor Mouth column, and not surprisingly has some unique hot takes. From there he weighs in on a related subject, and that is what should be the bigger priority when it comes to building electric vehicles, the economy or the environment? And should we be building, and supporting, low-cost EVs at the expense of lower wages to produce them?
For three decades award-winning automotive journalist David Booth has informed, inspired and at times outraged readers with his Motor Mouth column in Canada’s National Post newspaper and on Driving.ca
Now he’s bringing his profound expertise and pointed opinions to the podcast world with the Motor Mouth with David Booth podcast.
Don’t miss his hot takes on the big stories in the automotive world, from electrification to autonomous vehicles, from manufacturing to mining, and from supercars to subcompacts.
Canada - english