Crystal Ball

American electric car manufacturers just got a powerful vote of confidence.

With tax credits for buying an electric vehicle going away and some of America’s most powerful corporations working hand-in-hand with the fossil fuel industry, it may be hard to fathom electric cars ever overtaking their gas-guzzling counterparts.

But in billionaire investor Warren Buffett’s opinion, a proliferation of electric cars is almost inevitable.

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“I think you’re gonna have a lot of people pushing electric cars in the United States, even if the subsidy is going away,” Buffett said during an interview with CNBC‘s Joe Kernan. “I think electric cars are very much in America’s future, much sooner than autonomous driving.”

When it comes to how to get to that future, Buffett thinks that American automakers will innovate all on their own — he told CNBC that letting the market run itself without government assistance would get us there faster.

“I think there’s a pretty concerted industry effort, from what I hear,” Buffett said. “I think we’re going in that direction, and I think you’ll see American companies quite aggressive in that field.”

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Buffett acknowledged and celebrated China’s massive push for ecologically-friendly technology like electric cars during the interview, but maintained that government subsidies won’t be necessary Stateside. Rather, he told CNBC that he thinks that car manufacturers will shift to electric of their own accord.

“I’m all for the Chinese doing what they’re doing in terms of the planet,” Buffett said. “It’s a good thing, so I cheer ’em for doing it. I don’t think we’ll need to do it in the United States.”

READ MORE: Warren Buffett: Electric cars are in America’s future [CNBC]

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