The Ben Mulroney Show - Our mediologist on the Tesla drive-in diner. Elon, what are you doing?

Episode Date: July 22, 2025

- Mohit Rajhans   If you enjoyed the podcast, tell a friend! For more of the Ben Mulroney Show, subscribe to the podcast! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://link.chtbl.com/bms⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Also, on youtube -- ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/@BenMulroneyShow⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow Ben on Twitter/X at https://x.com/BenMulroney Insta: ⁠@benmulroneyshow⁠ Twitter: ⁠@benmulroneyshow⁠ TikTok: ⁠@benmulroneyshow⁠ Enjoy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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We're on YouTube. We're as a on podcast platforms. We're on the radio We are on streaming apps and of course we are on social media So just find us wherever you may want to look for us and just look under a rock and you'll find the Ben Mulroney show I want to welcome to the show now Mo hit Rajan's great friend of the show the Ben Mulroney show. I want to welcome to the show now Mohit Rajan's great friend of the show Mediologist and of course, consultant with thinkstart.ca and on thinkstart.ca Mohit's got ebooks on all the topics that we talk about during our segments here. Mohit, welcome to the show. Thank you. And also I love the YouTube clips. You can't escape mentioning and promoing the YouTube clips. It's great to see the YouTube clips from the show on there as well.

Yes, indeed. We try to show, listen, wherever we are, wherever people are, that's where we want the show to be. Because we know that it's such a segmented population now. They can't just go to the radio or TV anymore to go find what they want. We gotta go find them wherever they are. And I think we're doing a pretty good job,

but there's always more we can do. And we require our viewers and our listeners to help us. I want to start with this story of automakers cancelling EVs. There's a whole list of them. And I want to delve into the list with you, but I also want to talk about the fact that in Canada, we have this EV mandate that's making it really hard for car companies to decide what they're going to build and what they're not going to build? Well, I think the broader stroke conversation that is happening right now is how many different industries does this affect, right? It's not just in EVs and making EVs. It's also the fact that the technology in this country is being developed around being able to service this industry. So now we're in a place where if we don't start to understand the trickle down effect about how these laws are

being changed, why they're being changed, and how much intervention is going to be in place, we're going to negate an entire industry that continues to accelerate around the world. Well, I mean, there are certain places where it's accelerating. But in the appetite for EVs in Canada, I have no problem believing and I want to live in a world where the EV revolution is a thing and we are all Moving towards that sort of car. I mean right now the this technology is great as is it's going to become cleaner It's got the carbon footprint of each car is going to become better at some point

The battery technology itself is going to be revolutionized and we're gonna be it'll be a game changer But we're not living in that world yet. And given the fact that this, the government in Canada has imposed an EV mandate on the automotive industry makes it so they don't know how to plan for the future. The appetite's not there, but they're being told they have to build these cars for a market that doesn't want them. Well, we're also scaling back rebates, right?

And so the economics of it all doesn't really make sense. And so on one hand, you might say to me of a generation that you're going to buy a car that's going to only have an impact on the climate for the next five years. And the government's going to incentivize that. Well, those cost pressures, et cetera, are going back to the manufacturer because those rebates are being scaled back. So what are we, what are we saying? Are we saying the environment is the, um, the cause here that we're going to be building this around?

Is it the cost? Is it neither? Is it these high capital costs of continuing to service this new form of industry will continue right now because we're not set yet. So do you think that the, it's going to get worse for the EV industry before it gets better? Yes. No, I do think it's going to become cheaper to actually create. And I also think the sentiment around the vehicle culture we have right now is going to change as well. I don't believe, you know, I have parents that bought one car and hoped that it would hang around

for 20 years. And unfortunately, we're in a generation that buys a new iPhone every year. Yeah, good point. Good point. Okay, let's talk about Elon Musk and one of his many businesses. I mean, we get hung up on Tesla. And sometimes we talk about the boring company, we certainly

talk about Starlink, and we talk about we talk about SpaceX. But one of the companies has been flying under the radar and doing no less revolutionary work is Neuralink. Neuralink. Yeah, of course, we're in a situation right now where they're they end up being one of the most competitive parts of what Elon Musk is doing with reference to global science and its, its effect on everything from medical science into look in video right now, if you look at what they're doing, they're very much caught up in the fact that they're not necessarily worried

about fake videos and stuff like that. They're making 3d, you know, AI use. And, and Elon wants to be at the table when the AI, the AI, the AI, the AI, the AI, the AI, the AI, the AI, the AI, the AI, the AI, the AI, the AI, the AI, the AI, the AI, the AI, the AI, the AI, the AI, the AI, the AI, the AI, the AI, the AI, the AI, the AI, the AI, the AI, the AI, the AI, the AI, the AI, the AI, the AI, the AI, the AI, the AI, the AI, the AI, the AI, the AI, the AI, the AI, the AI, the AI, the AI, the AI, the AI, the AI, the AI, the AI, the AI, the AI, the AI, the AI, the AI, the AI, the AI, the AI, the AI, the AI, the AI, the AI, the AI, the AI, the AI, the AI, the AI, the AI, the AI, the AI, the AI, the AI, the AI, the AI, the AI, the AI, the AI, the AI, the AI, the AI, the AI, the AI, the AI, the AI, the AI, the AI, the AI, the AI, the AI, the AI, the AI, the AI, the AI, the AI, the AI, the AI, the AI, the AI, the AI, the AI, the AI, the AI, the AI, the AI, the AI, the AI, the AI, the AI, the AI, the AI, the AI, the AI, the AI, the AI, the AI, the AI, the AI, the AI, the AI, the AI, the AI, the AI, the AI, the AI, the AI, the AI, the AI, the AI, the AI, the AI, the AI, the AI, the AI, the AI, and it gives people the ability to actually start to experiment with AI in physical form. Now, the issue, obviously, with reference to the connectivity and how it all works,

is that doesn't work the same for everybody and all the time. We're in experimental phase right now. We end up giving ourselves a lot more leeway as a result of the fact that we can see the highlight reel of all of this experimentation. But the truth is we're not necessarily going to be able to use these pioneering brain interfaces yet at a commercial level until we get past this patent idea and how safe these things really are. OK, I want to talk about a headline that should be very concerning for us in Canada. And it's a President Donald Trump on Tuesday announced an investment of more

than 90 billion dollars US from private companies across tech, energy and finance. in Canada. And it's a President Donald Trump on Tuesday announced an investment of more than $90 billion US from private companies across tech, energy and finance to turn Pennsylvania into a hub for artificial intelligence. And the question is simple, what does Canada have to do to make sure that we don't get lapped here? Well, we're already heavily reliant on so almost an international cloud structure when it comes down to what we're building here in Canada. And we've been so for such a long time, but think about how bad that still is. We still have rural areas in this country that actually don't even have high speed internet yet. So while you and I can sit here and talk about the fact that we need major, major,

major investment in data centers in Canada in order to actually compete in a global market. We don't even have enough here to sustain our own actual needs and our own business needs. So we have corporate heavyweights down there, you know, Google, metanthropic, really investing in the US infrastructure. And if Canadians don't understand how quickly we're being left out of the picture, now's a good time to pay attention. Okay, let's go back to Elon Musk for a moment and our last few minutes, explain to me where his, this new retro Tesla diner that he built in Los Angeles fits into his business plan. And for those who don't know, it's this 1950s style futuristic diner, a drive up diner where people bring the

food to your car. It's got superchargers, you can order the food directly from your Tesla. There's a there's a drive in theater where you can watch a movie and of course all the the sound is pumped directly into your Tesla, you do not need a Tesla to go to this diner. But it certainly helps with the experience. He's got his optimist robots that are serving popcorn. Like, what's the point of this? It's kind of cool. But what's the point? Well, the point is, we're talking about it for sure.

But it also has a very significant aspect of being able to show off what he really thinks of the Tesla brand when it comes down to the family. I went to the website and I looked at the menu, it looks almost like a combination of, you know, it's got apple pie on it and bacon and chocolate chip cookies and stuff. He's really trying this idea, but it might also be a distraction here, Ben. I'm going to call Elon out on something. There's another thing happening in the news right now where XAI is about to get a big AI contract from the U S government. Wait, does this have anything to do with Grok? Please tell me.

It doesn't have to do with the racist Grok AI. Well, how do we differentiate? You tell me. I don't know, are they one and the same? I do believe right now, when you refer to the model of XAI, you're referring to chatting with Grok. I don't believe there's a separate model. And there's a new initiative that's been planned

with the Pentagon to be able to use $200 million of contracts with Elon's company. And I feel like this little diner, not little, this diner was probably a big marketing thing and plan to help alleviate some of the pressure associated with the stock price right now. But this little contract on the side that's coming to fruition is making me think people aren't necessarily dotting their I's and crossing their T's. Well, he does. He has said, I saw a tweet that came out, I don't know if it's today or yesterday, but he said that, that this is, if this is successful, he's going to roll it out in major, major cities across North America. It also may be, you may be right. It might be a PR play to

link Americana with, with Tesla and, and reminding people that, that Tesla is an American company and it's the red, white and blue wrapping himself up in the flag by way of that harkening back to those old days, who knows? Bingo, bingo, it really does. And when you look at the overhead shots, et cetera, you're like, oh, it has that diner feel. Yeah, exactly. All right, Mohit Rajans, thank you so much.

And just reminding people the website is thinkstart.ca. Have a great week, my friend. Thank you very much, Ben.. dealer today. SCVT for 256 monthly with 2,895 down at 3.49%. Includes.5% loyalty reduction for qualifying Nissan owners. Conditions apply. See Nissan.ca for details.