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Rivian Helps Jeff Bezos With His Blue Origin Space Program
Rivian Helps Jeff Bezos With His Blue Origin Space Program

Rivian Helps Jeff Bezos With His Blue Origin Space Program

 

Yesterday

by Jake Lingeman Video / 13 Comments

No reason to let Tesla have all the fun.

When we're talking EVs and space travel, Tesla is certainly the first automaker to come to mind. Not only does Musk own his own exploration company in Space X, he also sent a new Tesla roadster into orbit, which has recently passed Mars. But today it's Rivian's turn.

CEO RJ Scaringe doesn't own a space company, but his brand is partnering with Amazon on delivery vehicles. And that company's owner does have his own space program in Bezos' Blue Origin. On April 15 the company launched a reusable space capsule and two Rivian R1Ts showed up to retrieve it.

The pickups both have numbers on the roof, which could signify some sort of prototype, or maybe Bezos ordered ten of the things to troll the desert when astronauts come down. The Rivian is suited to this work, not just because of its 750-hp powertrain in top form, but also its 14 inches of ground clearance.

It looks like the R1Ts took the desert roads to get close to the landing site, then went through the brush to drive right up to. They were joined by a Ford F-150. It makes sense that the two companies would bring their partnership closer after the web sales giant ordered 100,000 EV vans from Rivian, with the first to roll out next year.

We're all for partnerships here at CarBuzz, but usually they involve some sort of technology transfer, from race cars to road cars, or platform and powertrain sharing. We're not sure what Rivian gets our of helping Blue Origin. Maybe Bezos promised to by a few more hundred thousand vans.

The Rivian R1T pickup has a base price of $67,500 and has a 300-plus-mile range. It comes out in June. The R1T will have a bigger battery and 400-mile range when it lands in January of next year, and the base model with 250 miles on a charge will come after that.

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