Interview with the T&E magazine about the sustainable company!

In our Shop4Tesla, sustainability is very important. We do everything we can to ensure that Tesla accessories are not only cool and suitable for your Tesla, but also have a very good quality and are still produced sustainably. In particular, the path of converting very well-selling products to the most sustainable possible and also regional production Made in Germany is not easy and presents us with new challenges every day. But we have made it our task to start right here and do our best. With our brand 2befair we are taking a step into the future. Our 2befair brand stands for sustainable and fairly produced accessories. In addition, with articles from the 2befair brand, we ensure that production is as regional as possible, transparency and the highest quality. We will continue to expand our 2befair brand in the future and offer you even more sustainable Tesla accessories. In addition, we make sure that the packaging and shipping of our products is as climate-neutral as possible and do not use unnecessary plastic when shipping. At ElektroHub, we also do everything we can to work as sustainably as possible.

T&E Magazine published a great and very meaningful interview by Nico Pliquett (owner of Shop4Tesla and founder of the 2befair brand) on the sustainable company at the end of September 2022. He was already on stage at the S3XY CARS Community Event on July 30, 2022 in the “Sustainable Company” panel discussion. You can find the interview on this topic, which he conducted with publisher Timo Schadt from T&E Magazin, in this blog post or on the T&E Magazin.

The interview:

? You were a Lambo driver not that long ago. What made you a convinced e-mobilist and today even an absolute advocate of sustainability?

! First and foremost, I was always a car enthusiast and I was very fortunate to be able to drive great cars in the past. Also because, as a YouTuber, I was regularly invited to tests by manufacturers and was able to drive the latest cars in great places. In 2019, however, I sat in a Tesla Model 3 for the first time and was enthusiastic about both the acceleration and the integration of the software. The overall package was right and I came across electromobility through Tesla. When it comes to sustainability and our environment, this has always concerned me. However, this has only become really important to me in recent years and I have decided to do more than just think about or talk about it.

? And you have now also oriented yourself professionally and, after the initial identification phase, have now clearly positioned yourself. Tell me.

! First of all, I just wanted to do something new next to the YouTube channel. I was able to use the reach here to make our Shop4Tesla known. In the meantime, the relationship between my priorities has changed and I see myself more as an entrepreneur than a YouTuber. Unfortunately, you can also see that in the number of videos that we are currently publishing. It is more important to me today to position the company for the long term and to develop new products with which we can offer sustainable products from the EU for electric cars in addition to all the Chinese goods.

? The 2befair floor mats are outstanding. How do you come up with such ideas and, above all, how do you implement them consistently?

! It was a long process. My product used to be software. Everything purely virtual. But somehow I always wanted to make something that you can touch.That's how the idea of ​​a shop and the accessories came about. But that shouldn't be the end of it, and I've been increasingly involved in the production of parts. Hence the idea of ​​replacing a Chinese product, which was already doing quite well in our shop, with a product made in Germany. After more than six months and a high investment, we then launched our 2befair rubber mats. It was an amazing feeling when we held the final product in our hands for the first time and we felt a lot of pressure and were very satisfied with the quality.

? And it's also something special due to its high recycled content. But 30 percent recycled content, as is currently the case, isn't the end of the road, is it?

! We are working on a way to produce the mats with 100 percent recycled materials, such as fishing nets. Everything here is still new to me and we also depend on partners. A large part of our work today consists of finding producers who can produce sustainably for us and also use new materials that are better for the environment. So now there are also screen protectors "Made in Germany" from 2befair and I've also freed up time so that I can finally work with the 3D printer again and design new products. That's what I personally enjoy the most; I was already making 3D animations when I was a teenager. I am confident that by spring at the latest we will no longer buy another key product in Tesla in China, but will produce it ourselves in Germany using special materials.

? That doesn't just sound like a personal investment to me. You certainly have to spend a lot of money and that involves high risks. In particular, Tesla can change anything during production at any time, right?

! Yes, Tesla has often changed something in the past and thus made some products almost unsaleable. Depending on what we produce, we have to invest a five- or even six-digit amount for the tools. It's all new to me, too, but I've learned an awful lot over the last year. We're slowly moving forward now. Of course I would like to produce many more products in Germany or the EU right now. But we don't have any external investments and finance ourselves from cash flow, so I have to weigh up the risk very carefully and gradually pick out the products that have the greatest positive impact on the environment and also on business development.

? If Tesla - as announced by Elon Musk - eventually stops selling vehicles to end users, your business model is gone. Where do you see yourself in ten, fifteen years, then just YouTubers again?

! I've been toying with an idea for a while that would fit perfectly in this case. We may start a test in the next few months. However, we are also in the process of supplying other car brands with the Shop4EV and are positioning ourselves more broadly. So I think that in ten years we will still have the shop, but there will be a greater focus on the 2befair brand and our own products. On the other hand, I probably won't do YouTube anymore. I've been thinking for quite a while about how we can make the channel more independent from me and how we can continue to operate it.

? Back to Elon. You had the opportunity to speak to him personally when handing over one of the first Model Y from Grünheide.How was it? Goosebumps or normal?

! It was a special moment for me. We only spoke very briefly before we got the Model Y. I find it impressive what Elon Musk has set up as an entrepreneur and what visions he has. There are few corporate managers who understand so much about their product. And we're talking about rockets and cars with him. Of course, SpaceX and Tesla are bigger today than just Elon Musk, but with his vision he not only motivates employees or "fanboys", but also many more people. I'm sure that as a society we need exactly this motivation for our cohesion. In this sense: “We got to be excited about the future, we got to do things that make us want to live. It can't be about problems every day."