April 29, 2019—An IT manager turned his curiosity into YouTube fame in 2016, cranking out videos about the cars, including how to buy, fix and mine wrecked Teslas for spare parts, as noted by CNBC. Rich Benoit now has a YouTube channel with close to 500,000 subscribers. Dubbing him “Dr. Frankenstein of Teslas,” his followers frequently send payments to support his video blogging habit, as well as random items for his cars, home and garage.
Over the years, Benoit said, followers increasingly reached out asking where to get a good deal on a spare part, or offering to pay him to fix their cars when Tesla service centers couldn’t or wouldn’t do so.
In the winter of 2018, Benoit partnered with a former parts manager for Tesla, Chris Salvo, to open up their own repair shop. Salvo is also the founder of EV Tuning, an online store that sells parts and accessories to electric vehicle owners, according to the report. This spring they broke ground on their Electrified Garage in Seabrook, N.H.
