The Joe Rogan Experience

Joe Rogan Experience #1849 - Rich Benoit

Rich Benoit is a car enthusiast, host of the YouTube channel "Rich Rebuilds," and co-founder of The Electrified Garage: an electric vehicle maintenance and repair company. https://www.youtube.com/RichRebuilds

Joe RoganhostRich BenoitguestGuestguest

Jun 26, 20242h 41mWatch on YouTube ↗

WHAT IT’S REALLY ABOUT

Electric dreams, gasoline souls: Rich Benoit on cars, clout, meaning

Joe Rogan and Rich Benoit (Rich Rebuilds) dive into the tension between EV innovation and old‑school car passion, using Teslas, Porsches, and Rich’s infamous V8‑swapped Tesla as anchors.
They explore how “green” electric cars really are, right‑to‑repair battles with Tesla, and why car enthusiasts still crave emotion, sound, and mod-ability over pure speed and tech.
The conversation expands into lifestyle and ethics—student debt, predatory finance, social media clout, loneliness, mental illness, and what success and relevance actually mean.
They finish on how to build a creative life (YouTube, stand‑up, screenwriting) without being consumed by competition, clout chasing, or the endless pursuit of money.

IDEAS WORTH REMEMBERING

5 ideas

EVs win on speed and tech, but often lose on emotion.

Cars like the Tesla Plaid objectively destroy most gas cars in straight-line performance and features, yet enthusiasts like Rogan and Benoit still prefer analog-feeling machines (Porsches, muscle cars, E46 M3s) for sound, involvement, and ‘soul.’

Right-to-repair is central to feeling like you truly own your car.

Tesla’s tight control over parts and service pushed Benoit to build a V8-powered Tesla using an LS engine and aftermarket ECU so he could source parts from anywhere and not be dependent on the manufacturer’s permissions.

“Green” technology doesn’t erase broader lifestyle consumption.

Driving an EV powered by solar panels while living in a 10,000 sq ft, heavily landscaped home still carries massive environmental impact, and EV batteries rely on contested minerals and complex supply chains that aren’t purely “clean.”

Range, charging access, and infrastructure still define EV practicality.

Without home charging, EV ownership can be a hassle; superchargers are fast but slow down when crowded, and opening Tesla’s network to other brands may dilute one of Tesla’s biggest advantages.

Nostalgia is powerful—but often technically underwhelming.

Cars Benoit dreamed of as a kid (Skylines, Evos, old Supras, NSX) feel slow, rattly, and unsafe compared to modern performance cars, yet still hold emotional value and command huge prices because of nostalgia and scarcity.

WORDS WORTH SAVING

5 quotes

As great as Teslas are, every real car enthusiast I know still has their gas cars.

— Rich Benoit

All that [in the Plaid] does is take energy from a battery and go to two electric motors. A Porsche is handmade just for driver pleasure.

— Rich Benoit

People just want these cars so much it’s not even funny… They’ll live with all the inconveniences because they want a Tesla.

— Rich Benoit

You don’t really own it if they control the parts for it.

— Rich Benoit

Don’t think about competition. I don’t think at all about competition with podcasts. I got here by just being me.

— Joe Rogan

Rich Benoit’s history with Teslas, salvage builds, and the V8-swapped Model SElectric vehicles vs. gas cars: performance, emotion, range, and infrastructureRight-to-repair, ownership of products, and Tesla’s parts restrictionsEnvironmental claims of EVs vs. real-world consumption and battery sourcingCar culture, nostalgia, and the emotional value of old performance carsStudent debt, predatory lending, and the economics of modern adulthoodSocial media clout, YouTube pressure, and the fear of irrelevance and loneliness

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