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Rich Benoit is thrilled with Tesla electric vehicles since the company unveiled its first flagship sedan, the Model S. The IT manager turned his curiosity into a YouTube celebrity in 2016, launching videos about cars, including how to buy , repair and maintain mine. Teslas wreck for spare parts.
"The reason I started my YouTube channel was to demystify Teslas in general, so I bought a Tesla Model S a few years ago and I started to disassemble it to see if I could put it back up, "said Benoit. Today, its "Rich Rebuilds" channel is approaching 500,000 subscribers. The most popular episode, "Can you drown a Tesla engine?" collected 2.3 million views in less than a year.
The nickname "Dr. Frankenstein of Teslas", his followers frequently send payments to support his habit of blogging video, as well as random elements for his cars, his house and his garage.
He has received custom auto parts such as wheel nuts, doorknobs, carpets, as well as air fresheners, cleaning products and so on. Someone sent him a life-size poster of Elon Musk. Someone had a pizza delivered to his home, which pleased Benoît. On the stranger side of viral video celebrity, a fan sent Benoit a puppy kept in formaldehyde in a jar.
Over the years, Benoit added, followers have increasingly contacted to ask where to find a good deal on a spare part or offer to pay him to repair their car while Tesla service centers could or could not would not do it.
In the winter of 2018, Benoit joined with Chris Salvo, a former Tesla Parts Manager, to open his own repair shop. Salvo is also the founder of EV Tuning, an online store that sells parts and accessories to electric vehicle owners.
While both occupy daily jobs, they opened their electrified garage in Seabrook, New Hampshire in the spring.
"I never thought of opening my own shop," said Benoit. "But Tesla has denied me so many times that I've really started thinking that there had to be a bigger picture here, another player who can help others and get coins." , there is a place where people can call on third-party EV repair. "
According to Benoit and Salvo, their typical customers own out-of-warranty Model S cars, or Model 3 cars with spare parts after voiding their warranty, so that they can not work for Tesla.
Chris Salvo and Rich Benoit are the founders of the electrified garage.
Magdalena Petrova | CNBC
Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, has long promised to expand the company's services in North America.
In July 2018, he tweeted: "Tesla body shops are accelerating. The goal is to spend 30 days or more using external repair shops at a same-day repair service with pre-locked parts in Tesla service centers. "
But Tesla is currently in a tightening belt phase, recovering from massive layoffs and still under pressure to cut costs. It is therefore difficult to know when the company will be able to fulfill Musk's promises. This week, the CEO told Tesla skeptics on Twitter: "We are establishing Tesla service centers and mobile service worldwide."
Until more service centers open or Tesla increase its capacity and its technicians, including the "Rangers" – who go to customers to repair their cars – electricians ready to be repaired, modified or rebuilt, like the electrified garage.
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