Onehots2k

"As always, Buffet — the second-richest man in the world — puts his money where his mouth is. His investment firm made a $230 million investment over a year ago in BYD, a Chinese battery maker with a newfound focus on electric cars"

We all know that Warren Buffett is one of the biggest names in investing. He did do an "all-in wager" on the U.S. economy earlier in November– $34 billion to own a railroad that hauls everything from corn to cars across the country. It was the second largest railroad in the U.S.

Should us gearheads believe a man whose company has a keen eye for acquiring "winners?" Hybrids have blown up in popularity since the original 1999 Insight and that was only ten years ago. I think most cars will have the electric option by then.

http://www.leftlanenews.com/warren-buffet-...n-20-years.html

Ralleh

Cheap Teslas plz. A Tesla at an S2000 price point would be amazing.

TheDonEffect

I'll never say that I'm a better investor or will ever be half as good, but when buffet got into goldman, I said uhh it hasn't hit bottom yet. The only reason why it didn't tank worse than it did was because he endorsed it, and even then it still went down.
Buffet always said that you should only invest in what you understand, which was his excuse why he didn't make a killing in the dot com era, but goldman was his area of expertise and didn't quite call it all that well.
With that said, it's a no duh that cars are definitely shifting to more electric, but to say all? Based on the way things are today I don't see why especially considering I see 20 year old cars driving around all the time, and considering how much better cars have gotten I don't see that changing. Why would someone pay 20K+ for a new electric car which will surge their electric bill vs. a 4K beater when gases are at affordable levels again (don't tell me gas is gonna surge to 5 bucks a gallon in under a year, historically that just is not the case). If gas becomes too expensive and everyoen switches to electric, i.e. coal, what do you think will happen with coal prices? Nat gas?
Definitely a growing segment, but considering all the usual suspects are at the forefront of development, I don't see where the good investments are. Perhaps coal/copper/etc commodities?

NuncoStr8

so what? T. Boone Pickens says they'll all be powered by natural gas, and we'll get all our electricity from wind farms. He's now seeing that throwing money at something doesn't change the laws of physics, and Buffet will soon figure that out, too.

tantheman

It would seem that every major manufacturer is jumping into the hybrid system, while also exploring cleaner diesel too. I am just glad we are being proactive.

Tan

asiliat

I still can't get over the general poor mileage of our typical "electric" vehicle of today. I'm sure things will change in 20 yrs, but so far - there hasn't been a super battery yet. Also - fast charging rivaling gasoline fill-up times is also another hurdle.

Of course, the biggest thing is where are we getting the electricity from?

I say electric cars are not the way forward.

QUIKAG

Are you kidding? Do you have any idea how much unrealized gain Buffett currently has in GS? Try over $2B at today's price just on the warrants on a $5B initial investment. That's on top of the 10% pref dividend. To call his purchase of GS pref stock bad timing just boggles my mind.

To the OP, I don't doubt that the vast majority of new car sales in 20 years will be electric. We will also have a ton of nuclear power plants coming online to satisfy the increased demand on the electrical grid. It will happen, no doubt. Sad to say, but the ICE is going the way of the dinosaur.

JonBoy

Our electrical grid is already hard pressed in some areas of the country. Add in Obama's intended taxation of coal-fired generators and you have higher rates than ever. Unless the country commits to cheaper electricity (nuclear, pretty much), you're going to see electrical rates probably increase over the next 20 years.

That means that electrical vehicles may not be nearly as cost competitive as they are now, from a continual operation standpoint. I still think hybrids will continue to rule the world for the foreseeable future as they give the best of both worlds without relying on one form of energy or the other so heavily as to make them obsolete or cost prohibitive if energy costs skyrocket.

Of course, I think sports cars will continue to use ICE as it will take a MONSTER battery (or very significant technology improvements) to sustain spirited driving for any period of time.

ltswb

I don't understand the people clammoring for a Tesla. Buy an Elise. It handles much better, weighs less, doesn't need recharging every 100 miles, costs much less, and is much more reliable. Duh.

cyde01

the tesla roadster gets 230 miles per charge and costs about 2 cents per mile to operate. my s2k gets about 325 miles per tank and costs 12 cents per mile for gas, which is about $2.91 a gallon premium in socal. that's 6x more expensive, and doesn't include regular maintenance like oil changes that the tesla does not need. having a tesla model s as a DD and s2k as a weekend fun car would be ideal, imo.