YouTuber tests whether you can fix a flooded EV by covering it in rice

Everyone’s always telling you if your phone gets wet, you can just put it in rice that’ll fix it.

As it turns out, you can do the same thing with your flooded EV.

Yep – we know this because a YouTuber actually tried it, and it worked.

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That YouTuber – who goes by Rich Rebuilds, real name Rich Benoit – tried the rice method with his flood-damaged Audi E-Tron GT RS.

The E-Tron GT RS, not to be confused with the roofless Audi E-Tron Spyder which is just a concept car, is an electric sports sedan, which shares several components with the Porsche Taycan.

The Audi EV is not as popular as the Taycan, which explains why the latter received an upgrade while the former didn’t, but it’s a good car, and expensive.

This brings us to the reason Rich bought this car in the first place.

Rich bought the Audi used, and damaged

Rich bought the Audi used, and he was able to get a good deal because the car was sold ‘as is’ after being damaged by floods.

The car only had 2,600 miles under its belt and was sold with a 50+ percent discount on its MSRP (manufacturer’s suggested retail price) precisely because it was damaged.

How Rich brought the flooded EV back to life

Rich and his team started by doing things by the book, using things like jump leads and a 12-volt booster pack.

Even though they did manage to see some progress, the flooded EV was still dead, and it wasn’t even starting.

From the ABS to the chassis control system, nothing was working.

Desperate times call for desperate measures so Rich decided to follow the old adage that suggests you can fix electronic components damaged by water with rice.

Believe it or not, he managed to do that by ‘dipping’ the flooded car into a giant case full of rice, and it worked.

It was a lengthy process

Obviously Rich couldn’t ‘flood’ his entire house or garage with rice, so he decided to build a custom-made frame where he could park the car.

After doing that, he bought 4,200 pounds (1,905 kg) of expired rice and poured it inside the frame.

A few days later, Rich vacuumed out the rice and removed the car from the frame.

Amazingly, not only did the Audi start, but it was also able to move under its own steam.

Well, its own electricity, that is.

It’s remarkable really, and speaks to the power of lateral thinking to solve a fairly complex problem.

Or the commitment to trying something daft to see if there’s even a small chance it might work, anyway.