Looks like the “Oracle of Omaha” likes green cars. And I’m not referring to the color. From Reuters’ Joanne Chiu and Alison Leung this morning:

Billionaire Warren Buffett’s investment in Chinese battery maker BYD has given the firm cash and credibility to pursue an ambition of making “green” cars, analysts said, helping its shares nearly double on Monday.

Shares in BYD, which began life as a maker of rechargeable batteries but now also makes mobile phones and automobiles, soared 90 percent at one stage after resuming trade following a morning suspension. They ended 42 percent higher at HK$11.90.

On Saturday, MidAmerican Energy — a unit of investment guru Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway — agreed to buy a 10 percent stake in the company for $230 million, which investors took as an endorsement for a rapidly growing firm.

The deal gives MidAmerican a foothold in the Hong Kong-listed company, which is developing electric and electric-hybrid cars that can also run on petrol as a back-up fuel.

According to Chiu and Leung, BYD had planned to begin sales of its cars in the United States by 2011. With Buffett’s and MidAmerican Energy’s backing, it now hopes to move this date up.

The Reuters reporters also noted that MidAmerican is also interested in BYD’s research capability in rapid-charge and rechargeable battery technology, and power storage technology.

Source:

“UPDATE 2-Buffett’s BYD endorsement sends shares soaring”
Joanne Chiu, Alison Leung
Reuters, September 29, 2008

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