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The week's question
In December 2024, in the thread "Re: BRK: Why Not XOM?", BreckHutHigh asked the members: "What about the long road trips with kids?" This week it is put to everyone again. The button below opens the small thread re-asking it - read what others have said so far, then give your own answer as an ordinary reply.
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Stocks A to Z / Stocks B / Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A)
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Author: rayvt 🐝  😊 😞
Number: of 21943 
Subject: Re: BRK: Why Not XOM?
Date: 12/16/24 11:53 AM
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Imagine if we were driving EVs for 100 years and then someone invented the internal combustion engine.

This device is at best 30% efficient in converting the energy in the fuel to motive power. They are so inefficient that they have to carry 250kWh of fuel to travel 400km.
The engines are very noisy and must rotate at very high speed to develop a decent amount of power, so they have to have a clumsy gearbox.


And yet gasoline powered cars replaced electric cars very quickly when cars were first invented. Also replaced steam powered cars.

You still have to use "fuel [that] must be extracted from wells deep beneath the earth or the sea", convert it to electricity, and distribute the electricity all over to where it needs to be loaded into the vehicles. It is much more efficient to transport a liquid 1000 miles than to transport the equivalent electricity 1000 miles. It is only marginally more expensive to transport twice as much liquid than to transport twice as much electricity.

Not to mention how practical it is to make the necessary batteries for all the cars & trucks. It is doubtful that there is enough materials in the world.
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This community has written 21,448 posts about Berkshire Hathaway. The article-length ones it recommended most:
BRK: Why Not XOM? · 62 recs · 2024
Second quarter comments · 60 recs · 2023
Berkshire's Profit Contributors · 57 recs · 2023
Summary of 2Q 2026 · 54 recs · 2026
3Q Summary · 53 recs · 2024
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