Prince William chides billionaire space race after Blue Origin flight

Published

4 years ago

October 15, 2021

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Prince William photographed during a visit to Dulwich Hamlet FC in south London on September 23, 2021.

Kirsty O’Connor – WPA Pool | Getty Images Entertainment | Getty Images

Prince William appears to have taken a swipe at the space tourism espoused by some of the world’s most high-profile billionaires.

Speaking to the BBC, William said: “We’ve seen everyone trying to get space tourism going … we need some of the world’s greatest brains and minds fixed on trying to repair this planet, not trying to find the next place to go and live.”

The Duke of Cambridge’s comments — which were broadcast in full on Thursday — come in the same week that the 90-year-old actor William Shatner was launched into space by Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin.

In a face to face conversation with Bezos after returning to Earth, Shatner said: “What you have given me is the most profound experience I can imagine. I’m so filled with emotion about what just happened.” Bezos himself undertook a spaceflight on July 20.

On July 11, a Virgin Galactic spacecraft carrying the billionaire Richard Branson, among others, completed a spaceflight. Another billionaire involved in the sector is Elon Musk, through SpaceX.

While these companies have generated a significant amount of publicity and interest, it appears the second in line to the British throne will not be using their services anytime soon.

William was asked by the BBC if he would like to be a space tourist one day. “I have absolutely no interest in going that high,” he replied. The BBC also reported him as stating there was a “fundamental question” related to the carbon footprint of such trips.

Bezos has himself addressed concerns around the kinds of endeavors firms such as Blue Origin are now involved in.

In an interview with CNN in July prior to his trip, it was put to him that critics were calling such flights to space “joyrides for the wealthy” and that his time, money and energy would be better spent focusing on Earth-based problems.

“Well, I say they’re largely right,” he replied. “We have to do both … we have lots of problems in the here and now on Earth and we need to work on those, and we always need to look to the future — we’ve always done that as a species, as a civilization. We have to do both.”

The Duke of Cambridge is not the only member of Britain’s royal family to express views on the environment. In Sept. 2020, his father, Prince Charles, called for a “Marshall-like plan for nature, people and planet.”

Earlier this week, Charles told the BBC: “My old Aston Martin, which I’ve had for 51 years, runs on, can you believe this, surplus English white wine and whey from the cheese process.”

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Podcast: new Tesla Model S/X, Robotaxi is sort of coming, Xiaomi breaks EV Nurburgring record, more

Published

3 hours ago

June 13, 2025

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Podcast: new Tesla Model S/X, Robotaxi is sort of coming, Xiaomi breaks EV Nurburgring record, more

In the Electrek Podcast, we discuss the most popular news in the world of sustainable transport and energy. In this week’s episode, we discuss the new Tesla Model S and Model XX, Robotaxi is sort of coming, Xiaomi breaking the EV record at Nurburgring, and more.

The show is live every Friday at 4 p.m. ET on Electrek’s YouTube channel.

As a reminder, we’ll have an accompanying post, like this one, on the site with an embedded link to the live stream. Head to the YouTube channel to get your questions and comments in.

After the show ends at around 5 p.m. ET, the video will be archived on YouTube and the audio on all your favorite podcast apps:

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We now have a Patreon if you want to help us avoid more ads and invest more in our content. We have some awesome gifts for our Patreons and more coming.

Here are a few of the articles that we will discuss during the podcast:

Here’s the live stream for today’s episode starting at 4:00 p.m. ET (or the video after 5 p.m. ET:

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Chevy closes in on Tesla with the Equinox and Blazer EVs ‘right in the heart of the market’

Published

3 hours ago

June 13, 2025

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Chevy closes in on Tesla with the Equinox and Blazer EVs 'right in the heart of the market'

Chevy is narrowing the gap with Tesla in the US, thanks to its new Equinox and Blazer EVs. After outselling Ford, Chevy is now the fastest-growing EV brand in the US.

Chevy EV registrations triple in April as Tesla slips

GM is outpacing rivals in the US with a full lineup of 13 all-electric vehicles. Its biggest star so far has been Chevy, with new EVs like Equinox and Blazer seeing strong demand.

In the first quarter, Chevy became the fastest-growing domestic EV brand, outpacing Ford. According to the latest registration data from S&P Global Mobility (via Automotive News), Chevy is not slowing down. It’s actually closing in on Tesla.

Although new EV registrations fell for the first time in over a year in April, Chevy more than tripled its share. Tesla remained the top-selling EV brand with 39,913 registrations, 16% fewer than in April 2024.

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Chevy registered 9,160 EVs in April, more than triple (+215%) that of last year. Its share of the EV market rose to 9.4%, up from just 2.8% last April.

The Chevy Equinox EV was the third most popular model, behind Tesla’s Model Y and Model 3, with 5,424 registrations. Tesla Model Y registrations fell 42% to 18,978, while Cybertruck registrations slipped 23% to 1,680.

To be fair, Tesla already said earlier this year that the new Model Y changeover would impact production in the first quarter.

Chevy’s Blazer EV ranked sixth with 2,662 registrations in April. S&P Global Mobility analyst, Tom Libby, explained that “They have the Equinox and the Blazer right in the heart of the market and they’re really benefiting from that.”

	US EV Registrations April 2025	% Change from April 2024
Tesla	39,913	-16%
Chevy	9,160	215%
Ford	5,534	-33%
BMW	4,812	8.7%
Hyundai	4,796	-25%
Cadillac	3,829	104%
Nissan	3,316	52%
Rivian	3,109	-30%
Mercedes-Benz	2,392	-19%
Acura	2,315	–

US EV registrations by brand in April 2025 (Source: S&P Global Mobility)

The Chevy Equinox EV, or “America’s most affordable 315+ mile range EV,” starts at just $34,995. No wonder it’s selling like hotcakes.

Through May, Chevrolet has sold over 37,000 electric vehicles in the US, outpacing Ford, which has sold 34,000. We will learn more when GM reports second quarter sales on July 1.

With leases starting at just $289 per month, the 2025 Chevy Equinox EV is a pretty good deal right now. Chevy is also offering 0% APR for 60 months on all 2025 EV models. Ready to try one out for yourself? You can use our links below to find Chevy EV models in your area.

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