#1849 - Rich Benoit

Joe Rogan (0:04)

The Joe Rogan Experience. Good to see you.

Jamie (0:15)

It's been a while.

Joe Rogan (0:15)

It's been a while, man. I've been watching your exploits.

Rich Benoit (0:18)

Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you, thank you.

Joe Rogan (0:20)

How is that V8 Tesla?

Rich Benoit (0:22)

You know, it's funny, I brought you something.

Joe Rogan (0:24)

Yeah?

Rich Benoit (0:24)

Brought you a magazine.

Based on the V8 Tesla. That's for you.

Joe Rogan (0:28)

No shit.

Rich Benoit (0:28)

Actually, my hotel key's in there, so just so you can't take the whole thing.

Joe Rogan (0:31)

Popular Mechanics.

Rich Benoit (0:32)

Yes, front cover.

Joe Rogan (0:33)

Wow.

Rich Benoit (0:34)

Thank you, thank you.

Joe Rogan (0:35)

Did Tesla reach out? Well, are they still at odds with you?

Rich Benoit (0:39)

You know what's funny? I don't even know if they... They don't really care about me.

Joe Rogan (0:41)

They don't? But they did for a while, right?

Rich Benoit (0:43)

I think, you know what? They would watch me in silence and just cautiously observe what I do, pretty much.

Joe Rogan (0:48)

We should just tell everybody why.

You were one of the very first guys that... That's yours.

Rich Benoit (0:54)

That's yours.

Joe Rogan (0:54)

Oh, thank you. One of the very first guys that started working on electric vehicles, on Teslas, and as an unauthorized repair person.

Rich Benoit (1:05)

Correct, yes.

Joe Rogan (1:06)

And then you would also buy scrapped Teslas and piece them together at incredible savings.

Rich Benoit (1:12)

Yes, exactly.

Joe Rogan (1:13)

And make a fucking awesome car.

Rich Benoit (1:15)

Right, but they didn't really like that that much because that really didn't fall in line with their policy on just buying a new damn car.

Joe Rogan (1:22)

Right.

Rich Benoit (1:22)

You know, like, don't hobble together six different cars, just buy one good car from us.

Joe Rogan (1:27)

How could they not see that that's cool, that you're doing, first of all, it's green.

Rich Benoit (1:30)

Yes, it's very green, yes, absolutely.

Joe Rogan (1:32)

I mean, you're literally recycling broken Teslas, putting them back together again. And it takes great skill to do that because I've watched the videos. It's fucking complicated what you had to go through.

Rich Benoit (1:44)

It's not easy, no, but I mean, why should they care about green? It's just about making money at that point. I mean, if you think about this, what would... I have this debate all the time.

A lot of people force others into buying an electric car to say, buying an electric car will solve the world's pollution issues. It's good for the environment.

In reality, the best thing we could do is take a look at ourselves and see what we're wasting all of our energy on. Do you really need a Tesla? A bike would probably suffice.

Joe Rogan (2:17)

You can just walk.

Rich Benoit (2:18)

Just walk.

Joe Rogan (2:18)

Just walk everywhere.

Rich Benoit (2:19)

Yeah, try walking. You don't really have to get rid of your 98 Honda Civic that gets like 40 miles to the gallon to get a Tesla to pretend you're saving the environment.

Joe Rogan (2:27)

You're kinda doing something because you're not contributing as much to pollution, but then you have to power that car, and sometimes people are powering their Tesla with coal plants, which is very ironic.

Rich Benoit (2:40)

It's funny. You know what? But a lot of good people, I'm not saying the ones that don't are bad, but a lot of people are also powering the Tesla with the sun.

So they have their Tesla, they plug it in, they have the solar panels on the roof, which is admirable.

Joe Rogan (2:52)

That's great.

Rich Benoit (2:53)

At the same time, these people live in 10,000 square foot homes that have to be heated and cooled. They tend to forget about this.

You have a 10,000 square foot house, it has to get heated and cooled. You have five acres of landscape lawn, and you know what landscaping does to an ecosystem. It destroys everything in its path. So no animals could survive there because of your landscaping. You have a huge house, but you have a Tesla, so it's fine.

Joe Rogan (3:16)

Yeah, I watched this landscaper the other day walk around my yard spraying stuff. I'm like, what's in that bottle?

Rich Benoit (3:22)

Right.

Joe Rogan (3:23)

And my still cool walking around barefoot. What happens if that shit gets on my feet?

Rich Benoit (3:28)

They tell you not to walk on it after they spray, don't they?