Paul Scott

Berkshire Well Positioned for Buffett's Prediction on Electric Cars

As one who has been driving a fully electric car for 7 years, I can attest to the viability of this technology. There have been several hundred Californians driving Toyota RAV4 EVs since 2002 and we are all in strong agreement that electricity is vastly superior to petrol. The acceleration is better, the cars are very quiet and they just don't break down. Never going to a gas station is a huge pleasure. Just pull into the garage, plug it in and go about your business at home. Every morning, you have a full battery.

It makes the economics of solar PV quite good. My 3 kW PV system will pay off 2-3 year early since I'm offsetting gallons of gas as well as utility kWh.

Watch as Nissan and GM launch their Leaf and Volt programs next fall. I think you'll be very surprised.

And if you live near where Nissan is showing their Leaf on the tour right now, go there and give it a test drive. You'll be amazed at how good this car is.

I'm looking forward to driving the BYD e6, next.

Another Reason to Get Excited About Electric Cars

As one who has been driving an EV for 7 years, I can attest that we will shift quickly to this technology. The cars are bulletproof. Ours was made by Toyota (RAV4 EV) and in 73,000 miles, the only maintenance has been new shocks in year 6.

We power it with kWh generated by sunlight falling on our house. Our electric bill averages about $100 per YEAR. That's right, per year, and that's for our house and car. We haven't been to a gas station since December 2002.

EVs are quiet, powerful and always work. It's much easier to drive home and plug in the car. Or drive to work and plug in there.

Here in the U.S., we're pouring millions into building out the charging infrastructure, although most who will drive these cars already have electricity near where they park. It's easy and cheap to have an electrician install a plug.

There are a couple thousand EVs on the road today, mostly the older RAV EVs, 700 Teslas and about 500 BMW Mini Es.

By the end of 2010, there will be 15,000-30,000 more (Chevy Volt, Nissan Leaf, BYD E6, Aptera, Coda.

By the end of 2011, there will be over 50,000 and it will accelerate quickly from there. We'll see the first million plug-in vehicles sold by 2015.

The growth will be mostly determined by the ability of battery manufacturing to keep up with demand.

These cars are so much better than internal combustion, once you try a well made EV, you'll never go back to burning gas.

Two other reasons to go electric. Since I never give my money to the oil companies anymore, that makes me feel good. I also keep all my money domestic. That feels good, too.

But more importantly, we've never fought a war over electricity and never will. We're in our 7th year of fighting a war over oil in Iraq. The faster we switch to EVs, the faster we end any need to fight over oil.

China Looks to Electrify Our Cars

I would rather buy a foreign made car that runs on domestic energy than a domestically made car that runs on foreign oil.

We need as many EVs and plug-in hybrids as we can get as fast as we can get them. There is a huge market for EVs waiting for them to be sold. Tesla, BMW (Mini E) and Aptera will be first to market here, but starting in late 2010, both the Chevy Volt and Nissan's hot new EV will hit the market and will sell as fast as they make them.

If you think an EV is not right for you, fine, keep burning gas and polluting your kid's air. However, there are millions of Americans who understand that pollution kills Americans and we don't want to do that anymore.

As for the grid's ability to handle the extra load, a recent Energy Dept. study concluded that there is enough excess capacity at night to charge over 180 million EVs without adding any new power plants. Most Americans waste more electricity every day than what they would use in an EV. If they just got efficinet and quit throwing energy away, they could use that energy to power their cars and never go to a gas station again.

I've driven my EV 70,000 miles over the past 6 years and every mile was driven on energy generated from a 3 kW solar system on my house. My electricity bill averages about $100 year and that's for the house and the car. None of my money goes to the opil companies, or by extension, the Saudis. Remember, it was oil money that funded those assholes who flew their planes into the towers and Pentagon. Every time you buy gas, you give them a little more money.

Detroit's Been in Trouble Before - Why This Time Is Different

As one who has been driving a Toyota RAV4 EV for 6 years, I can assure you that electric drive will take over, and do it fast. The advantages are that you use much cheaper domestic energy that is already cleaner than gas and getting cleaner as the grid gets cleaner. Night time electric power is very cheap and that's when people charge their EVs. There's enough excess capacity today to charge over 180 million EVs at night without adding any new power plants.

In our case, we installed 3 kW of solar just before getting the EV and for 6 years, our electric bill has been under $50 for the year, and that covered both the house and car. At this rate, the system will pay for itself in less than 9 years, but will last for 40-50 years. None of my money goes to the Saudis.

The EV has not had one whit of maintenance and the only repair was replacing the rear shocks at 63,000 miles. The car performs better than a new 2008 model gas RAV4, not to mention a gas one that was bought in 2002 with 65,000 miles on it.

Every car maker in the world is developing EVs and plug-in hybrids. Between the two technologies, 100% of American driving needs can be covered with virtually ell the energy coming from domestic electricity and home grown bio-fuels.

It's best to get on the bandwagon and get in line for the first ones to hit the market in the next couple of years. The pent up demand for these cars is going to soak up production fast.