Posted on 03/04/2023 10:24:31 AM PST by aimhigh
Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway paid $8.2 billion to acquire Pilot Travel Centers in January. Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway quietly acquired $1 billion in January and promises to boost its exposure to the fast-growing electric vehicle industry.
Renowned Investor’s Group bought 41.4% of Pilot Travel Centers on January 31 for approximately $8.2 billion. The transaction boosts Berkshire’s ownership of the business to 80% since it originally bought a 38.6% stake in 2017. Pilot is the largest operator of travel centers in North America with more than 650 locations. Truck-Stop Group grew its revenue from $20 billion in 2017 to $45 billion in 2021, and now generates more than $1 billion in annual pre-tax earnings.
Pilot last year partnered with General Motors to set up a national network of 2,000 EV charging stations by 2026. It also intends to work with Volvo to develop a similar network for battery-powered trucks. Bloomberg magazine had an article in November, 2022 that electric truck stops will need as much power as a small town. “Think of electricity like water flowing through a hose. You could fill an Olympic-sized swimming pool with a garden hose if you had a few months, but filling it in a few hours would require a firehose. In the world of electric vehicles, an 18-wheeler is like a swimming pool—and the connections available at today’s highway stops are akin to garden hoses,” Randall wrote.
Electrifying a typical highway gas station will require as much electricity as a sports stadium. Sysco Corp. plans to convert a third of its fleet to electric trucks. Pilot and Kodiak Robotics have a strategic agreement to develop services for self-driving trucks at Pilot and Flying J travel centers.
The first such autonomous truck port is being built at a Pilot center near Atlanta, Ga. where the companies will evaluate what services make the most sense for self-driving trucks. Pilot vice president of strategy and business development John Tully imagined autonomous truck ports wouldn’t look much different than the rest of the companies locations
The Federales will be paying all expenses to electrify his Pilot truck stops for stinkin’ EVs. Warren is just another welfare recipient. A billionaire one.
Feds will be paying all expenses to bring in the huge mains to power Warren’s EV chargers. This makes the local rural electric coops happy too.
My kid is an OTR trucker. His company requires him to fuel up at Pilot and Flying J.
Electrifying semi’s is just stupid.
“Electrifying a typical highway gas station will require as much electricity as a sports stadium.“
At the same the rats are kneecapping the grid. Absolute madness
Yes sir.
From where will these truck stops get the electricity? diesel generators?
I think all of this may be reality by 2050 unless we build nuclear plants everywhere in the U.S. But we are not doing that so we are decades away from mass adoption of EVs.
Will he build the necessary coal-fired power plants next to each truck stop, too?
I started up quite a few small coal-fired industrial power plants that generated tens of megawatts plus industrial process steam. They would fit right in next door to the truck stops. They could even pipe the waste heat from the condenser to the truck cabs to keep the drivers warm during those long recharges.
Then the owners, will charge people a fee, to charge their vehicles. The owners will get their cut, and the lefty politicians, will get theirs.
I figure coal emissions can be scrubbed very, very clean these days. Much cleaner than 30 years ago. Is this true? (not talking about CO2 here)
I have owned Berkshire Hathaway for years. You are right. Buffett is just another welfare queen. But you can play the game or scream about it.
Lol, truck stops are going to have their own substations like data centers. The landscape is going to look great with those high tension lines crisscrossing all over.
The primary nitrogen, sulfur, airborne particulate, and fly ash (solid waste) pollutants were all well controlled 30-40 years ago. Small improvements were made afterward, but it was a declining benefit at at ever increasing high cost (”diminishing returns”).
So, always needing something to meddle in, the EPA turned its attention to mercury emissions from coal plants and that’s been a sticking point for 30 years. It is very hard and expensive to capture mercury emissions. Imminent mercury regulations have been on the table a long time and that threat has accelerated the shutdown of older plants (along with poor efficiency of old plants).
For a long time, natural gas / combined cycle plants with efficiencies in the 60% range were the solution — no emissions except CO2 and water vapor plus very high efficiency.
But we all know the greeniacs have turned their attention to CO2 and started calling it a “pollutant.” It’s the old Hitler/Goebbels playbook — tell the big lie long enough, hard enough, and frequently enough and people believe it.
His completed acquisition of pilot has been in the works for several years since they first bought interest in the company
With the long hours many cross country trucks on the road it
should be able to provide a self charging system for each and
let it charge as it moves down the highway. I’m not sure of
the details but I suspect they are being looked at. jmo
Many thanks for your detailed reply! Yeah, I have heard gripes about mercury emissions. Mercury is a poison that can pollute waterways and the fish in them. Mercury gets into the food chain.
How serious are mercury emissions from burning coal in large power plant? I don’t know.
Is this the same Warren Buffet that sold off his interest in wind farms?
Notice how mercury is way down the list of harmful emissions from coal powered plants>>>>
______
Emissions from burning coal
Several principal emissions result from coal combustion:
Sulfur dioxide (SO2), which contributes to acid rain and respiratory illnesses
Nitrogen oxides (NOx), which contribute to smog and respiratory illnesses
Particulates, which contribute to smog, haze, and respiratory illnesses and lung disease
Carbon dioxide (CO2), which is the primary greenhouse gas produced from burning fossil fuels (coal, oil, and natural gas)
Mercury and other heavy metals, which have been linked to both neurological and developmental damage in humans and other animals
Fly ash and bottom ash, which are residues created when power plants burn coal
https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/coal/coal-and-the-environment.php
There are boatloads of problems with autonomous vehicles and numerous NHTSA investigations. But apparently it’s no problem to have self-driving 40-ton vehicles on the road.
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