Jeff Bezos became the world’s second billionaire to travel to space, following Richard Branson. On July 20, Bezos arrived at the Blue Origin spacecraft launch site in an electric SUV in which his firm, Amazon, has a significant stake.
Rivian, a California-based electric vehicle company, outfitted Bezos with a R1S electric SUV to serve as his personal shuttle. Bezos and his fellow astronauts are seen boarding the electric SUV and headed towards the launch site in a video released by Blue Origin. The R1S SUV, one of several vehicles Rivian will create this year, was sighted at the launch site by Jeff Bezos, his brother Mark Bezos, Wally Funk, and Oliver Daemen, the youngest person in space.
The Rivian R1S generates 800 horsepower and has a range of up to 643 kilometres per charge thanks to four electric motors and a 180 kilowatt-hour battery pack. In around 3 seconds, the SUV can accelerate from 0 to 100 kilometres per hour. Rivian’s electric SUVs and pickup trucks are aimed at taking on Tesla on its home soil as a rival in the EV industry. The US-based electric car manufacturer’s R1S electric SUV, which Bezos utilised as a shuttle to the launch pad, is the company’s second production vehicle.
Both Bezos and Rivian made a statement by employing the Rivian R1S electric SUV as a shuttle car, which many saw as an appropriate response to Elon Musk’s offer of Tesla Model X electric automobiles as Astrovans for SpaceX crew missions last year. Rivian’s R1S electric SUV is a direct competitor to Tesla’s Model X and will be available in the United States soon. After the Tesla Model X, the seven-seater R1S electric SUV will be the only three-row fully electric SUV available in the United States. Rivian stated last week that manufacturing of the R1S electric SUV and the R1T electric pickup truck would be delayed for a while. The R1S SUVs, on the other hand, are expected to be available by the end of the year. The Rivian R1S is expected to be more affordable than the Tesla Model X when it is released.
