Inspiration Behind These Posts: January 2022 – December 2022

Disclosure: Millennium River is an independent website that uses hyperlinks. Some of these links are affiliate links. When you click and purchase a product(s) through these links, I may earn a commission on qualifying sales. This is done at no extra expense to you. You may also support this website directly via PayPal. Unless it is clearly stated, the content is not sponsored.

2022’s Reflections

This compilation covers all the write-ups that were uploaded between January 2022 to December 2022. A total of 18 write-ups have been done in 2022, 14 in 2021, 17 in 2020, 23 in 2019, 30 in 2018. This would be the first time I have gone back to gather the post count over the years. I must admit that it is not good to see that I have been on the decline for the most part, with 2022 marking the first uptick in 3 years. For the 2023 year, I want to aim for no less than 24 posts for the year, the equivalence of at least 2 write-ups per month. If I am serious about getting more natural views to the website, there needs to be a bit more fresh content for viewers to enjoy. 1 post per month is sure to keep both real people and algorithms uninterested. 

2022’s Inspirations

Time to dive into the inspirations behind the posts of 2022!

Inspiration Behind These Posts: January 2021 – December 2021

Though this was a post that dealt with the topics of 2021, it is was nevertheless, typed and uploaded in 2022. Fortunately, you will not be seeing a “Inspiration Behind These Posts: January 2022 – December 2022” by the time December 2023 comes. Why? Because this time I made sure I would complete the “Inspirations Behind These Posts” in the same year as the posts themselves were.  A success for no more oddity and confusion!

Canadian Start-up Tells Justin Trudeau The Truth About Canada’s Automotive Industry

I had actually intended to get this post done the same month I completed Battery Electric Vehicles Canada 2021, which would be December 2021. Upon discovering how powerful Kaminski’s message to Trudeau was, I decided that it truly needed a full-blown write-up on the subject matter. And yes, while we are it, Canada really does need to step it up and support its home-grown start-ups to get their cars to mass production. AK Motors, and Project Arrow are 2 that come to mind. 

They Are Coming Back Better

This was a quick teaser to indicate the my services were coming back real soon. Unfortunately, they have been pulled back at this time. Further explanations below.

The Services Have Returned For 2022

The post was an announcement that my services have finally returned after an absence of 16 months. They resumed April 01, 2022. Why? As mentioned on the post itself, I thought long and hard about it, did research, cleaned up and updated texts and document, and went ahead. Unfortunately, by October 27, 2022, I have reverted the pages back to drafts, making them invisible to the public. This means that I have not full-blown deleted the pages like how I did back in 2020, but simply made them unviewable to viewers. Truth be told, Millennium River’s traffic is far too low and inconsistent to be noticeable to clients. Even with the best intentions during social media advertisements or proposals, interest was non-existent. Therefore, until this website gains a steady, reliable, engaging audience, the service pages cannot back, lest they be guaranteed to fail over and over again. 

Natural Flavours Need To Be Listed Entirely

Ever read something and wondered what on Earth a company could be hiding behind those so-called natural flavours? I certainly have. Maybe you are the type that does not care, or perhaps does not even read ingredients at all! I care a lot, and wanted to highlight this problem. I created a post that details why companies should not do it, and that they have absolutely no actual valid reason to hide something as serious as food. 

River Talk 1: Russian-Ukrainian War

On Millennium River, there are several types of write-ups: articles, blog posts, poems, argumentative essays, a speech, product descriptions, and so forth. This subject marked the creation of a new format: River Talks. Still a Millennium River-style blog post, but with more personal opinion and tidbits involved. In the case of the Russian-Ukrainian War, I wanted to talk about this, but was not sure when. I eventually got around to it, and did a solid write-up on it. Unfortunately at the time of this writing, December 29, 2022, the war is on-going. Russia refuses to exit Ukraine; full-blown sovereign country that is legally and internationally recognized as such. I hope that within 2023, Russia will be entirely expelled from all of Ukraine’s territories, and yes, that certainly includes Crimea. Слава Україні!

River Talk 2: Elon Musk

Mister Musk is someone I had been wanting to do an entire write-up on for a long time. Problem is that because there is so much I could say about him, I had a hard time figuring out where to start, and what I should say about him. I brainstormed some topics, put them together, and got the post done. Dear oh dear! If I had done this River Talk on him now, after reading all the notoriety he has done with Twitter and elsewhere, that River Talk would be a lot more critical than what it is now. You are a brutal one, Mister Musk.

River Talk 3: Elizabeth The Long Reigning Queen

The true inspiration behind this post was a suggestion from my father. Yes, not even the post itself mentions that, so if you are the type of viewer that actually reads the “Inspiration Behind These Posts Of XXXX Year” then you now know extra tidbits that other viewers do not. I did not any plans to do a write-up on Queen Elizabeth. I thought about it, completed it, shared it to social media, and it garnered more views than expected. Made me glad that I went with it. British topics are not foreign to Millennium River, so it made sense anyway.

If Countries Were Flavours, What Would They Taste Like?

If you were to taste countries raw, most would just taste like dirt and bush, or would be just plain sandy and salty in some cases. Others would taste very rocky. That was initially going to be the idea of this bizarre write-up: the literal taste of countries. I realized that would be far too bizarre, so I went with what food the country mainly makes, or is significant, to determine how each country on that list would taste.

Emancipation

Society topics are fairly prevalent on Millennium River. Though, Emancipation did not exactly come to my mind at the time, my father suggested it. I then took the idea and turned it into a complete article of my own.

Universal Basic Income

As a content creator, I am utmost supportive towards a Universal Basic Income. I had so much things I wanted to discuss about UBI, that it took a full 5 days to complete this. Yes, that is a testament to how passionate I am towards the idea of Universal Basic Income becoming a reality. If you do not know what it is, or how it could possibly even become a reality, I strongly encourage you to read the article entirely. Hint: it does not require printing new billions like a mad man, nor raising taxes to the height of Mount Logan.

Animals Wearing Clothes

I remember telling myself from last year that for a nature-named website like this, how I ought to try and get more nature-themed topics into my River for 2022. This article is one them. The remembrance of those words, as well as how amusing animals in clothes are, are sources of inspiration for this article.

Dodge Charger Daytona SRT Banshee

It is all-electric, looks super cool, and sounds interesting. I need not say more. If this is your first time hearing about this concept car, you will need to see and hear it for yourself. Even utility vehicle lovers such as myself cannot deny how cool this machine looks.

Graveyards And Orange Shirts

It was National Day For Truth And Reconciliation, and I was feeling inspired this year to write a theme on it.

W’r’t ‘n ‘nt’r’ ‘rt’cl’ W’th N’ V’wls Ch’ll’ng’

The true inspiration behind this post was Ancient Egypt. They did not write down any vowels during the times hieroglyphics were in use. Therefore, I wanted simulate what it would be like to write something noteworthy without any vowels. The answer: grueling and miserable! Then again, this is largely due to the fact that I grew up writing a language with the vowels in place 100% of the time, as does 99% of the population. R”d’ng s’nt’nc’s w’th”t v’w’ls ‘s s’mpl’ t” h’rd!

2022 Battery Electric Vehicles Canada

Started back in 2018, so 2022 is the continuation of my tradition to discuss the year’s noteworthy events pertained to battery electric vehicles in Canada.

2022 Battery Electric Vehicles Canada

Disclosure: Millennium River is an independent, professional website that uses hyperlinks. Some of these hyperlinks are affiliate links. When you click and purchase a product(s) through these links, I may earn a commission on qualifying sales. This is done at no extra expense to you. Consider also supporting this website via PayPal. Unless it is clearly stated, the content is not sponsored.

2022

The 2022 year did not bring a lot of new models to Canadian shores. It did, however, see a lot of unveilings from various brands. It also marked the opening of General Motors Canada’s first full-scale electric vehicle manufacturing plant, a major amendment to the United States electric vehicle tax credit bill, and several other events to be covered within this write-up.

Buy American Becomes Buy North American

Back in 2021, Canada sounded the alarm when Canadians learned that the United States electric vehicle tax credit bill would only pertain to vehicles built within the United States Of America. Canadian leaders and workers were fearful that it would result in American brands closing factories in Canada to move to the United States, causing thousands to lose their jobs. In 2022, United States Democrats Senator Chuck Schumer and Senator Joe Manchin have agreed to propose to get rid of the tax-credit plan that favoured American-made electric vehicles. Instead, the Senate majority leader and the West Virginia moderate are proposing an amendment to Joe Biden’s climate and health bill that would expand the credits to include all of North America.

While this may have breathed a sigh of relief for stakeholders, politicians, leaders, and manufacturers, a major problem still remains: lack of Canadian-born and built electric vehicle companies in Canada. As AK Motors CEO Kaminski warned Trudeau in a statement last year, Canada cannot continue to be 100% reliant on building vehicles for foreign companies, as they can change things as they best see fit. The 2024 U.S. elections for example, could end up changing the course of trade, should the future President choose not to care about Canada and other countries very much.

Canada’s First Full-scale Electric Vehicle Manufacturing Plant

On December 05, 2022, the Prime Minister Of Canada, Justin Trudeau, announced the opening of the GM CAMI plant in Ingersoll, Ontario. The first full-scale commercial electric vehicle plant in the country. The CAMI assembly plant was retooled to make the BrightDrop Zevo 600. The BrightDrop Zevo 600 is an electric light commercial vehicle that is powered by Ultium batteries and Ultium drive motors and purpose-built for the delivery of goods and services. The estimated range is said to be 400 kilometres on a full charge. Interestingly, it was only 8 months ago that the government announced investments to retool the CAMI EV assembly plant in Ingersoll.

20% Of New Vehicles Sold In Canada By 2026 Must Be Zero Emission Vehicles

On December 21, 2022, Steven Guilbeault, Minister of Environment and Climate Change, announced that the Government of Canada has published proposed regulations that set ZEV sales targets for manufacturers and importers of new passenger cars, sport utility vehicles, and pickup trucks. The regulations will require that at least 20% of new vehicles sold in Canada will be zero emission by 2026, at least 60% by 2030, and 100% by 2035. These targets will help increase supply so that more Canadians who want a ZEV can buy one. In addition to making sure there are more ZEVs to buy, the Government also announced the following investments to make buying and charging an electric vehicle easier for Canadians:

• Invested in 50,000 more electric vehicle charging stations across the country, for almost 85,000 federally-funded chargers across Canada by 2027. This is in addition to charging stations supported by provincial governments and the private sector.
• Renewed the program that provides Canadians up to $5,000, and businesses up to $10,000, toward the cost of buying or leasing a ZEV. Over 180,000 individuals and businesses have taken advantage of this program to date.
• Making historic investments in electric vehicle manufacturing in Canada, which will mean made-in-Canada ZEVs by Canadian auto workers and for Canadian drivers to buy.

Danielle Smith Wants To “Protect” Alberta From Electric Vehicles

On December 22, 2022, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith made 3 Tweets in regards to Canada’s battery electric vehicle plans, particularly the 2026 mandate:

1. The Liberal-NDP plan to outlaw non-electric vehicles will drive up vehicle costs and take away your freedom to choose what vehicle makes sense for you and your family.

2. It will also cost billions of your taxes to upgrade the grid in a very short period of time, increasing your electricity costs and potentially impacting grid stability.

3. Electric, diesel, and gas powered vehicles are all choices Albertans should have depending on their personal needs, budgets, and circumstances. As Premier, I will make sure you have a choice when it comes to the vehicle you drive- the NDP and Liberals can butt out. 

Comments such as these coming from a Premier are troubling. Not only are these comments false, but ironically would suffocate Alberta and cause it to fall behind in a global push forwards. An opposing critic had also called her out for trying to make something that is not a real problem, look like a problem, while ignoring real problems happening right now with the faltering healthcare system, wages not matching inflation, homelessness, and several others.

Debunking These Harmful Myths 1-by-1

1. Outlawing combustion engine vehicles will not drive up vehicle costs. If anything, as more and more electric cars are being produced from major giants like General Motors, Ford, Honda, and others, especially under their non-luxury brands, the costs of electric vehicles are actually going down. Consumers no longer have to buy a Tesla if they need something with a range of 400 kilometres or greater. Pickup trucks, sedans, and crossovers — all can be had in all-electric form, making the remark about being unable to choose a vehicles that makes sense for your family false. 

2. “Billions” is a greatly exaggerated figure. Would have been true if Alberta were starting from scratch with the deployment of stations. However, this is absolutely not the case. As of January 2022, Alberta has 255 charging stations throughout the province. On top of this, the government has even given them millions to setup stations for electric vehicles. Making it look as though Albertans were going to bare the brunt of this burden alone is straight up false. The grid will not become damaged either. Alberta has more than enough time and resources to improve the grid. If the province were to take Smith’s to heart, then the province will fall into an actual crisis on top of already existing problems.

3. Internal combustion vehicles, whether people want to accept it or not, are mechanically inferior to all-electric vehicles. This alone could be an entire article, but in short, the absence of the engine and all its complex parts and piping, means far fewer maintenance, reliability, and long-term savings. And no hazardous tailpipe emissions. As already mentioned, there are already numerous sizes, classes, and price points of all-electric vehicles for consumers to choose. The remark about how she wants the Liberal and New Democratic Party to butt out, only proves the opposing critics right about her making unnecessary noise about something that is not a problem, while not focusing on actual problems happening.

Alberta Can Do It

Alberta has the fourth largest fleet of electric vehicles (EVs) in Canada behind Quebec, Ontario and British Columbia. The availability of reliable charging infrastructure is a key factor in electric vehicle adoption. Alberta is a land very rich in resources. It even has the potential to become an electric vehicle powerhouse, thanks to its richness. However, if people are fed with fake propaganda, believe it in it, and act upon it, this will gravely hurt Alberta’s innovation and growth to match forward-moving provinces, and the rest of the world.

Project Arrow

On October 19, 2022, APMA revealed a peek of the Project Arrow’s skeleton to attendees of its 70th annual conference in Windsor, Ontario. APMA plans a global reveal at the 2023 CES annual trade show in Las Vegas. The burning question during the conference has been answered: will the Arrow see full-scale production or not? Flavio Volpe says the possibility of an Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) or investor with deep pockets to sweep in and commit to mass produce the Arrow is not 0, but at this moment nothing is in the works. Volpe insists Arrow’s purpose is to act as a demonstration model of Canadian potential and talent, rather than a tool to entice manufacturers to start scaling — which, he believes, could cost a billion dollars.

While developing and making cars is no cheap task, Canada has plenty of affluent OEMs and investors that can easily fund mass-scale production. It is only a matter of will. If the Project was attractive to the point that APMA had to choose 58 Canadian industry partners out of 534 applicants, then there is certainly an interested investor and OEM watching and willing to produce it. Who will it be? 2023 will hopefully reveal. If the vehicle is a success at the 2023 Consumer Electronics Show, it will make it all the more likely for the Arrow to become a production car.

AK Motor

May 30, 2022, The Maple Majestic brand of AK Motors unveiled a video of a variant of their namesake car, then an official media statement the following day. This concept variant is called the Maple Majestic Kombi-Kross. The objective is to offer supreme winter handling capabilities and off-road attributes while providing additional storage space for longer trips. The startup’s statement also mentions that several more body configurations based on the existing concepts will be presented in the coming months as well as the technologies behind these vehicles. Between then and now, December 2022, no other concepts have been revealed. Could this mean a pickup truck concept in 2023? Time will tell. Given that there is not even a functional prototype of the original model, AK Motor may be better off creating a working prototype first, before exploring other concepts. If they manage to pull off both for 2023, then that would surely be an interesting surprise for the Canadian automotive industry.

New To Canada For 2022

• Kia EV6
• BMW i4
• BMW iX
• Volvo C40 Recharge
• Rivian R1T and R1S *first deliveries to employees in Vancouver*
• Toyota bZ4X *2023 bZ4X has limited inventory and is only available at select authorized dealers in British Columbia and Quebec* -Toyota Canada as of December 2022
• Genesis GV60

Dodge Charger Daytona SRT Banshee

Disclosure: Millennium River is an independent, professional website that uses hyperlinks. Some of these hyperlinks are affiliate links. When you click and purchase a product(s) through these links, I may earn a commission on qualifying sales. This is done at no extra expense to you. Consider also supporting this website via PayPal. Unless it is clearly stated, the content is not sponsored.

Eye-catching

I love pickup trucks, sport utility vehicles, and crossovers. So much so, that back in 2020 I even did a write-up entirely on non-utilitarian vehicles that should become all-electric utility vehicles. Yes, that was me. I did that. And proudly, too. Between now and then, a lot of utility vehicles have either been unveiled or are even on sale right now. The Hummer EV, Ford Lightning, Chevrolet Silverado EV, and Lotus Eletre to name a few. Though I am happy to see so many electric utility vehicles coming out, I found none of those vehicles personally exciting enough to warrant writing an entire write-up on them. Well, the Lotus Eletre actually did almost excite me enough to write about it. It seems as though I may have been distracted with other things at the time, however. When Tesla’s Cybertruck was unveiled back in 2019, it smashed the Internet. Yes, I see what I did there. Now last week while browsing the Internet, I saw Dodge make the headlines over a car unveiling. It was the Dodge Charger Daytona SRT Banshee. I did not watch the full unveiling until today, August 23, 2022. That machine is eye-catching!

Unveiling

The Unveilings were split over 3 days: Day 1: Current Muscle, Day 2: Gateway Muscle, Day 3: Next Gen Muscle. I did not watch the Day 1 and Day 2 videos because I could care less about the V8 going away. In fact, I could care less about ICEs going away in general. If anything, I would say, “Took you long enough!”. No seriously, some automotive brands have been serious laggards in the electric vehicles race, and I have criticized them for it on more than one occasion. Toyota, Mazda, Subaru, McLaren, Ferrari, Lamborghini, General Motors, and you guessed it: Stellantis. The Day 3 stream starts off with a brief introduction with the history of the Dodge brand. The gist of it? 2 American brothers quit their day job to put their side hustle into full production. Sure sounds like what a lot of entrepreneurs do when their side hustle starts taking serious traction. During a part of it, Timothy Kuniskis said that some people were ticked off when Dodge revealed the Dodge Hornet. The reason? Critics accused Dodge of being a sellout and making a boring compact utility vehicle that blends right into the sea of CUVs. However, he was also able to shut down what people considered “selling out” by telling the audience that there are 14,000 preorders for the Hornet. This just goes to prove that Internet critics do not gauge the success of a product or service, and that they are often nothing more than an obnoxious vocal minority.

Alfa Romeo Jealous?

While on the topic of the Dodge Hornet, I heard a word that Alfa Romeo is allegedly annoyed and jealous about Dodge “copying their homework” and being more successful with it. If this is actually true, it is both comical and non-sensical. The Dodge Hornet and Alfa Romeo Tonale are both compact utility vehicles that share the same platform. They are even built within the same factory in Italy. Yes, a Dodge made in Italy sounds a little weird, but the Jeep Renegade is made in Italy too, so not too surprising anymore. Dodge is not just cheaper, but has far more awareness in North America than Alfa Romeo does. If Alfa Romeo really wants to get a profit off its badge-engineered Tonale, perhaps they might want to try and convince Stellantis to not make them have to share so many guts, bits, and pieces with non-luxury marques. If Alfa Romeo is not in a position to do that, they should at least do more to offer a more premium experience with what they have to work with.

Back To Discussing The Unveiling

This is the EV that you did not see coming, but you will definitely hear coming, the Dodge man claims. Yes, he is certainly right. Before the electric muscle cars arrives, we can hear the low-pitched, futuristic hum of the vehicle. There was also lots of red lighting, smoke, and some electro revs. The Dodge comes out to drive in a path that momentarily takes it outside, before returning back to the presentation room. Wow!

My Thoughts

Timothy was not kidding when he said that Dodge wanted to create a car that looks like a Dodge, sounds like a Dodge, and drives like a Dodge. Well, the driving experience has yet to be proven, as nobody has taken it for a test drive. Or perhaps journalists probably already might have, but may currently be under embargo. As for sounding like a Dodge, there is certainly a lot of mixed opinions on this. In general, I think I am seeing a bit more hate, as well as “Will we be able to turn that off?”. Too many people are erroneously calling the sound fake, when it is actually a naturally produced sound from the car’s chamber. I believe that too many people have not taken the chance to actually watch the video or at least read an entire article on it properly. For this reason, I am now officially under the impression that if most people are hating the sound because it is produced “fakely” rather than the how the sound sounds to the ears, that they are vocal minority haters. It is perfectly fine to dislike the sound, but to hate without knowing more on how it is produced, is rather nutty. For me I personally, I love the sound, particularly its idle sound. It sounds like a mean, vibrating synth. The rev sound? Does not sound as cool, but it is alright. Both sounds would be better if they had more of that muscle car rumble to them. 

The looks? This is where just about everybody agrees that it looks A-amazing! The front end screams retro-done-with-a-modern-touch, while the back has super cool rectangular racetrack taillights. The interior looks good. Nothing special, but looks good. Some commenters pointed out that they should have an option for a bench seat in the back. I agree with this. If Dodge went as far to give it all-wheel drive and a hatch, they should go with bench seats for the back. A lot of concepts that have buckets seats in vehicles like this tend to become bench seats in production models. Therefore, I do not think people will have to worry too much about that. I have also seen some say that Dodge should offer a 4-door version of this. Seeing as though Dodge announced the end of the current Charger and Challenger, it would make sense to make an electric Challenger the 2-door option, and the Charger the 4-door option. Or perhaps they could just do one model with an option for both.

No Frunk?

Not once did Dodge open the front trunk in the presentation. This may be because they do not want to expose certain parts yet, but it raises a concern: is it really true that there is no frunk? If yes, then that is really bad and sad. Backpacks are useful. Frunks are useful. I tried to Google the answer to this, but there is no definite answer. Only 1 or 2 sources I think said that the concept vehicle does not have a frunk. This implies that the production model probably will. I say that it absolutely should! For me personally, I will not even consider an electric model of a particular car if it has no frunk. Why should I? The point of losing a giant, disgusting, engine is not just about zero emissions, but making vehicles even more functional. If Dodge cannot make the Fratzonic Chambered Exhaust system without it getting in the way, they would be better off just forgetting about it altogether. The Tesla Model S has a frunk. The Lucid Air has a frunk. Now why am I comparing premium marks to a non-premium mark? Because though Dodge is not a luxury brand, it is still very much a performance brand. Enough so, that there are countless videos of Dodges racing against the luxury marques, even if they lose the race. Electric vehicles must have frunks. To not include one is a waste of engineering, resources, and opportunity. BWM and Mercedes-Benz, I am looking at you, and I hope you are sweating in guilt for committing the great sin of not putting frunks in your current all-electric vehicles.

Conclusion

Slam, drift, drag, and donut! Those are all race modes that Dodge intends to put into their cars. The Dodge Charger Daytona SRT Banshee is one fine-looking muscle car. Dodge did a fine job at making their electric concept as cool as they possibly can. Since we are now in the age of electric cars, I wonder if Dodge will put the Dodge ZEO into production? I love scissor and gullwing doors on vehicles and the Dodge Zeo has just that: 4 scissor doors. Very cool, if you ask me. While the Dodge Zeo does not have the coolest-looking face in town, the mere fact that it has scissor doors integrated into it, straight from the factory, would make me choose it over the Banshee. Yes, for real. Doors aside, it looks pretty darn good, too. Some might say the shape is a little goofy, but that is ok. 

 

River Talk 2: Elon Musk

Disclosure: Millennium River is an independent website that uses hyperlinks. Some of these hyperlinks are affiliate links. When you click and purchase a product(s) through these links, I may earn a commission on qualifying sales. This is done at no extra expense to you. You may also support this website via PayPal. Unless it is clearly stated, the content is not sponsored.

Too Many Elon Posts On The Internet

“You too, Millennium River?”, “Finally! I have been waiting for your opinion on this interesting individual!”, “Too many people talk about Elon Musk!”, or “I do not know you or care about you, but I clicked on your link out of sheer curiosity” is what you said in mind or perhaps even out loud when you saw that Elon Musk was going to be the topic for River Talk #2. If you are familiar with my River, it should not come as a surprise that the day would come where I would have a write-up solely dedicated to discussing Tesla’s Elon Musk. After all, I have done a lot of write-ups on electric vehicles. But, the grand question you have is what drove me to choosing Mister Musk? Do we not already have too many write-ups on the Internet discussing what some would say an over-discussed topic? To answer the first question, the truth is that I have toyed with the idea for quite a while a now. However, 2 things in 2022 surged my attention: Twitter and remote work. To answer the second question: yes and no. True, there are thousands — millions if we are to include all media formats be it articles, videos, and social captions talking about Elon Musk. So yes, you could say that Mister Musk is over-discussed, but at the same time there is a very legitimate reason for it: his character. The things he says, he does, or plans to do. Love him or hate him, you cannot deny that he is an extremely interesting man. Be it interesting in a good way, bad way, or perhaps a blend of both?

Points Of Discussion

• Work From Home
• 44 Billion Deal With Twitter
• Moving To Texas
• Full Self-driving
• Mars
• Tesla Getting Dethroned

Work From Home

Just because someone is a genius in some areas it does not mean he is a genius in others. It made numerous headlines when a Tesla memo revealed the following: 

“Anyone who wishes to do remote work must be in the office for a minimum (and I mean *minimum*) of 40 hours per week or depart Tesla.” – Elon

Terrible. Absolutely terrible! How could somebody so blatantly ignore the immense benefits remote work does for the world? Over the pandemic, we have learned that remote work offers numerous health, environmental, and financial advantages. In fact, I have even written an entire article about this back in 2019. In 2022 the cost of living has been shooting up, but wages are not increasing to match up. Housing, food, fuel, and all. I have said it numerous times, and I shall say it yet again: all jobs that are capable of being done remotely, should remain 100% remote. There are certainly some positions that cannot be remote such as assembly workers, truck drivers, surgeons, and so forth. For all other roles that can, let them stay that way. Employers must realize that being a control freak over their employees will not last long. Some employees quit and move on. The Great Resignation anyone? With fuel prices surging, allowing remote-capable employees to remain totally remote, saves them fuel, transportation time, health, and other benefits. This allows them perform their role even stronger, hence the increased productivity. To make matters worse, Elon made sure to emphasize the minimum 40 hours per week part.

Why? Because he often exceeds 40 hours and expects employees to do the same. Not healthy! This is terrible and leads to exhaustion and poor health. Considering that this is the same man that glorified the stereotype of Asian workers working round the clock, I cannot say I am too surprised, but revolted. I am far from the only one. Germany’s biggest union hit back at Mister Musk’s return-to-the-office order saying, “An employer cannot dictate the rules just as he likes”. Meaning that the boss cannot just make unreasonable demands on the whim and expect everyone to obey without first discussing them with the people at the company.

44 Billion Deal With Twitter

When I first heard the news about Twitter agreeing to be bought up by Elon Musk for 44 billion, it annoyed me. Twitter should remain independent. Not sellout to anyone for a grand deal. Too many companies selling out to others is bad, because it creates less competition. Even in areas where it does not, the company being bought will no longer be the same it was. What else annoyed me about it is the 44 billion part. For Canadians such as myself, that is $55,267,300,000.00 or 52.2 billion Canadian in shortened form. See, had it been 3 billion, maybe 5 billion absolute tops, it would not have been too bad, but 44 billion? Does he not see how many people are struggling? With that type of money he could completely eradicate poverty in not just the United States, but all of North America. Some people will say that it is his money, and that is certainly true. However, if you are public figure who openly flaunts an outrageous purchase, you are bound to receive both valid and invalid commentary over what you are doing. In this case, I am far from alone. Numerous other outlets and private individuals also suggested that the 44 billion should be used to help people.

So this begs a question: why does he want to control Twitter? To allow complete Freedom Of Speech, and eradicate the bots that plague Twitter. Freedom Of Speech is a whole other topic on its own, but I will say this: No, I do not believe in absolute freedom of speech. In fact, I think it is high time that we even stop calling it that. In regards to the bots, I actually totally agree with Elon on this. Bots are a huge problem on social media. The fact that he is giving the bot problem such public attention is very good. Now if only YouTube, Instagram and other social media platforms would take an aggressive stance against bots. On YouTube in particular, there is a present problem going on with bots abusing the comments section. Particularly famous channels where bots are spamming fake giveaways through WhatsApp or Telegram. Bots definitely need to be eradicated. Well, it may not be possible to totally eradicate them, but at least significantly reduce their numbers to the point that real users vastly outnumber them. 

Moving To Texas

When I first heard the news about Elon moving the Tesla headquarters for Texas, I was did not think he was actually going to do that — until he actually did. Why? On the surface, it did not seem to make any sense. Firstly, Tesla is notable for selling cars directly to consumers, instead of dealerships. Texas does not allow that, so Tesla has to use loopholes to get around that. Secondly, California has a far larger and stronger electric car culture, and this is proven in statistics of electric car sales and infrastructure. But to be fair, Tesla is not the only company that moves headquarters. Far from it. A lot of companies do this all the time for various reasons. Texas in particularly attractive for businesses because it does not have income or corporate tax. Not only that, but to my surprise, I recently learned that Texas has enough solar, wind, and water to completely replace coal, albeit with one present major caveat: its electrical grid needs to update transmissions lines. Definitely a fixable thing. Despite being stereotyped as a gasoline-guzzling, diesel-drinking, country music singing, barbeque-gobbling, horse-riding, football-throwing state, it has the potential to flip the switch and become a powerhouse in renewable electrical generation. Perfect for charging electric cars.

Despite all these advantages, there is a word that he really did this more so to protect his wealth than save money on Tesla. There is no doubt that California is an extremely expensive state to both live in and do business. But, Alphabet is still there. Apple is still there. eBay is still there. Lucid Motors, a rival start-up with less money wants to remain there. Even notorious Faraday Future has headquarters there. Nevertheless, I must say that Giga Austin is an impressive factory. California or Texas ultimately boils down to personal preference and finances.

Full Self-Driving

Allow me to begin this part of the Talk with 2 quotes:

“Elon’s tweet does not match engineering reality” -Andrew?

“Tesla is unlikely to achieve Level 5 (L5) autonomy, in which its cars can drive themselves anywhere, under any conditions, without any human supervision, by the end of 2021, Tesla representatives told the DMV” – Tesla Engineers

You know what I have to personally say about Full Self-Driving, as in Absolutely-No-Human-Ever-Needed? Full-blown science fiction. Until the day comes where cars have organic brains and eyes with the capability to make conscious reactions, vision, and judgement, there will be no such thing as Absolute Autonomous Driving. I will go as far to say that we should stop calling it self-driving and rename it to Assisted Driving. Advanced Assisted Driving is both completely realistic and honest. Cars are machines. They will never be able to have eyes that see, and brains that judge and react. An Advanced Assisted Driving Car with sober, law-abiding occupants is the way to go forward with.

Mars

Elon has been open about his intention on sending humans to Mars. As recently as 2022, he has even gone as far to speak to the media about his desire to have 1,000,000 colonists to Mars by 2050. I have done a full-blown blog post titled Do I Believe There Is Life On Other Planets? If you have never read it, let me tell you right off the bat why there is no life on the other planets and why there will never be: too cold, too hot, no solid surface, unbreathable, and dangerous levels of cosmic radiation. These descriptors do not fit all planets, but that is general summary for planets aside from Earth. For Mars in particular, the average surface temperature is -60 °C. Notice how I said average? During a Martian winter, temperatures drop to -125 °C near its North and South Poles. Summertime? 20 °C during the daytime, then a romantic -60 °C to -70 °C at nighttime. Feeling cold yet? Mars’ atmosphere is 95% carbon dioxide having only 0.13% oxygen. For comparison, Earth has 21% oxygen. Therefore, you absolutely cannot breathe on Mars. Too cold. Too poisonous. The only major thing Mars has going for it is that it has a completely solid surface which makes it at least possible for equipment to land there. This solid surface is also what has allowed us to send Rovers there to capture photographs of Martian landscape.

Send Rovers. Not humans. The hundreds billions that he would spend attempting to colonize Mars would be far better spent on improving Earth. Eradicate poverty. Clean drinking water with sanitary sewers and water treatment. Education and schools. Refurbish cities in dire need of repair. Securer borders. The list is vast. There is always something to be done on Earth. If we do not improve habitable Earth first, there is no way in the mighty galaxy that we are going to have a good time on dead-cold Mars. I suggest Elon make a fantasy movie about humans colonizing Mars instead. Science Fiction and reality should be treated separately. 

Tesla Getting Dethroned

Before I proceed with this part of the River Talk, allow me to make this clear: I do not want Tesla to become defunct. I want the company to remain successfully in existence alongside other companies. Competition is important. That said, there is growing belief that Tesla will be dethroned from #1 in electric sales. When exactly? I have not seen anybody make concrete predictions, but if you ask I would say sometime within the 2020s decade. Before 2030 would be a safe prediction. Why? The competition is catching up fast. Not just regular fast, but aggressively fast. The reason Tesla has been so powerful for so long is because it was the only company to offer not just an electrified car, but a car that was loaded with technological advancements and long range. The Nissan Leaf has been around for a longtime, but why did it not cause mass excitement? Because it was an ugly, front-wheel drive econobox. Tesla changed that. They showed the world that electric cars are hot, fun, practical, charge fast, and better than your gasoline car. You can even summon them with your smartphone. Finally, coming the 2020s, the competition has swung into fullgear with it. They are getting so serious, that a number of brands have pledged to become all-electric companies before the end of the decade.

On top of this, they have poured billions into factories and development. The result? Rivian R1T, Ford Mustang Mach-E, Porsche Taycan, Polestar 2 Long Range, and thousands more to come across the world. I should also mention that the Lucid Air sedan has a variant with 837 kilometres of range. And it is even more luxurious and refined than Tesla. We are only talking 2022 here, and we are already seeing all of this happening. By the time we hit 2025-26 there will be electric Maseratis, Alfa Romeos, Rams, Silverados, Sierras, and even an electric Ferrari. Not to mention cheap long-range electric vehicles which would be the biggest threat to Tesla’s sales.

Rivals and competition are one thing. Elon’s erratic behaviour is another that has hurt the company on not one, but multiple occasions. Remember when he smoked cannabis? Said that he would take Tesla private? Tweeted about a Hertz a deal? Downplayed Covid-19? I am not trying to bring things up for the sake of intentionally shaming him, but he continues with his antics to this very day. The most recent example is the ongoing Twitter deal. Twitter Shareholders are now angry at him for sowing confusion and being fickle.

Final Words

I do not hate Elon Musk. I wish him no evil. He has done wonders in the automotive industry for getting all the major onboard with electrification, including super stubborn ones like Toyota and Stellantis. Even exotics like Lamborghini, Ferrari, Bentley and Rolls-Royce are brining all-electric models this decade. Elon has worked mad hard to get where he is today. Aside from being widely known as the founder of Tesla and SpaceX, he is also responsible for the creation of The Boring Company, and was even one of the co-founders for PayPal. Relating to the present Russo-Ukrainian War, a Ukrainian soldier said that Elon Musk’s Starlink satellites “changed the war in Ukraine’s favour” because they were helping troops stay online amid Russian strikes on Ukrainian infrastructure. That is a wonderful thing he is doing for to keep Ukrainians connected. If Mister Musk would calm down, be more focused, and realistic about things Tesla can enjoy a more stable future. No Martian getaways, uploading your brain to a hard drive, sentient cars, or hasty moves. 

Canadian Start-up Tells Justin Trudeau The Truth About Canada’s Automotive Industry

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Who?

AK Motor: A Toronto-based start-up that not many would have heard of unless they have been closely looking at themes and news of electric vehicles, particularly that of Canada. Now why would such a small unheard-of company be the one to write such a serious letter to the Prime Minister? Because he believed the call for change was urgent. He did not want to wait on some other bigger name to do it; he just wanted to get the message out plain and simple: support domestic automotive companies to put an end to 100% reliance on foreign ones. 

The Biggest Problem

“The biggest problem for Canada’s automotive industry is not that we are facing a new wave of American
protectionism, but rather that Canada has never attempted to insulate itself from such crises. For the best part
of the last century, Canada has relied on foreign OEM’s to set up factories, and produce their cars in Canada. This
reliance on foreign OEM’s is to the tune of 100%, and can only be described as “putting all our eggs in one basket”.
This status quo means that every time decisions are made about production of cars in Canada, they are made
outside our borders, and entirely beyond our control so that Canada’s auto industry is effectively at the mercy of
foreign powers” – Second Paragraph Quote

Perfectly true. The Ford Motor Company and General Motors are headquartered in the United States, Stellantis in the Netherlands, while Honda and Toyota are headquartered in Japan. This is why Canadians can plea and try to convince a foreign company to stay put whenever the mother country decides to shutter a factory, or axe a popular model, but ultimately cannot do anything about it. They may attempt to boycott said company, but this has always been more talk than actual walk. American protectionism is the next major thing that should have sent a major warning signal to Canada. Former President Donald Trump, and current president Joseph Biden may be different in a lot of ways, but if there is one critical similarity they have is the America first mindset. A country wanting to make more things in its home land and give its citizens greater incentives to buy those products is normally not supposed to be an area of concern. For the case of Mexico and Canada, it ends up being a great concern when part of the Buy Back Better Act, when created, will give consumers up $12,500 in tax credits for American-made vehicles.

This will naturally demotivate the far larger United States customer base from purchasing General Motors or Ford vehicles built outside of the United States. Thus leading to reduced shifts to ultimately closing off plants in Canada. What are the odds that Toyota and Honda might eventually consider doing the same? They might not close down their plants at this time, nor for the same reasons per se, but because they are headquartered in Japan, they could freely do so, completely against Canada’s will. Canada could try and invite other nations to set up shop, but as proven time after time, it leads to cycles of great success, then cycles of closed plants and job losses.

Nothing Wrong With Foreign Presence

“There is no suggestion here that Canada should turn away from the international OEMs who produce their vehicles
in Canada, but rather that we hedge our bets by including a Canadian complement of OEMs to the overall
manufacturing footprint. There is no question that Canada needs foreign OEM’s operating on our soil because
they give our parts suppliers a reason to exist, and Canada’s EV OEM’s will need those suppliers too.” – Fifth Paragraph Quote

Kaminski makes it clear that having foreign automotive brands in Canada is not a problem. He even both compliments and admits that it gives Canadian parts suppliers a reason to exist. After all, despite the ups and downs with foreign companies in the past, they provide thousands of high quality jobs for Canadians. He also points out that the current parts suppliers should also be used for the benefit of making wholly-Canadian vehicles. The last sentence of the fifth paragraph also mentions that a ratio of 75% foreign OEM’s to 25% Canadian OEM’s would be sufficient to bring lasting stability to Canada’s auto industry. This is a realistic humble goal for Canada to start with. However, in the long term, it is advised that Canada works towards achieving 50% Canadian OEM, or even greater. When precisely? It is far too early to say. The present wholly-Canadian automotive industry is still in the conception phase, and not even born yet. This will be greatly dependent on how many successful companies emerge within the 2020’s.

Debunking The Lack Of A Market Myth

When the topic of making wholly-Canadian cars is brought up, one of the most common comebacks is that Canada does not have the market for it. In other words, the population is too small and that the country does not have enough money to start its own auto industry. Both of these are miserably false. Not only is Canada is trillion dollar country, but it is also a country with a very high purchasing power. Ford, General Motors, Stellantis, and others know this. They know that there is huge market for some of their automotive models, hence why they go as far as setting up factories and other businesses in a country outside of their native lands. They are aware of the major parts suppliers that are headquartered there. In fact, the parts alone is one of the major driving reasons why APMA’s Flavio Volpe has been motivated to making a wholly-Canadian vehicle. 

Volpe realized that Canada already makes so many different car parts, that Canada might as well attempt to make a full car from those parts. This is precisely what APMA is doing, and even announced plans to showcase their vehicle to investors at autoshows in 2023. The renderings are available. Though AK Motor is much smaller and lesser known than APMA, the CEO still believes that he can convince high-ranking leaders to support home-grown brands. 

Debunking The Steep Competition Myth

This is not entirely a myth. It is true that existing competitors need to be taken into consideration. It is true that new competitors absolutely need to know what they are doing in order to convince consumers to buy their products. However, to say that the existing competition will not allow Canada to ever succeed is ludicrous. All companies had to start somewhere. Some may have started at times when there was less competition, or with greater funding, but they all had to get out and compete. As long as a good attempt is made with much pride and hard work, there is a chance of success. If no attempt is made, the chance of success is guaranteed zero. 

Trudeau’s Response?

At this time, there does not appear to be a response from Trudeau. At least not publicly. There is a chance that he may have chosen to respond to Kaminski privately through a letter, or some other medium. If Trudeau does decide to respond more publicly, it is safe to assume that not only will AK Motor update the media releases reflecting this, but to also expect headlines from various new outlets.