Gredi Nikollaj is the founder of Welectrify – a new social media platform designed to improve e-mobility and the way people use their electric vehicles. The social media industry and the automotive industry is evolving at a rapid rate, improving the convenience and flexibility available to customers.

Welectrify is all about sharing & helping electric vehicle owners get from one location to another by relying on peer to peer sharing in a social media platform. It’s about sharing rides with friends via the most energy efficient network available

Gredi was able to answer a few of our questions about the business and the industry.

Gredi, when did Welectrify begin and where did the idea come from?

Coming to Shanghai and experiencing the traffic jams of this mega city made me think how we can do something against that. I am an expat here and when I go to work in the morning, I see three other cars from the same compound heading from the same place as mine to the same company as mine at the same time. Three cars with each five seats are only transporting 3 people at the same time on the same way.

And these 3 guys each sitting in their car then wonder, why there is no place on the streets left. So, we thought, when we share the same route why not sharing the same car? This is how we started Welectrify. It is about us, no one but us can help to reduce traffic and to make use of unused space. And what could be better than a social media platform to connect with friends? This is how we launched the first social media mobility platform running in Shanghai, China, in Germany and soon in Albania, Tirana.

Does the application operate in a similar manner to other sharing apps?

Welectrify is a social media driven e.mobility platform. We are helping people and friends in groups to get from A to B. We are not another car sharing or car rental app or similar to any car manufacturer. It is more personal. Welectrify is about your community and your friends. Welectrify is like Facebook, Uber and Air BNB combined. What flats are at Air BNB are the electric cars at Welectrify.

We provide you the electric cars, you share it then with your friends. You get rewarded by our own virtual coin – the WeCoin – for sharing your electric vehicle. Also, your friend gets rewarded for taking your electric vehicle. You can create your own group where you sell, rent or just keep your car at our social media mobility platform. Share within your own group. We provide the platform and the electric vehicle for you at different entry models. For our power owner we also offer subscription models on monthly rates

Have you encountered any major challenges or obstacles as the business has grown?

One major problem that we are currently facing is Facebook. They somehow have blocked our site from their promotion. Promoting our social media platforms in other social media channels like Facebook or Instagram, somehow doesn´t seem to be welcomed. We can understand that, but our platform is for the good.

We want to solve one major problem of the world, as 70% of the time of a car life the car is just not used by anyone. We do not need any more cars on the streets, what we need is helping to allocate the resource that is already there, in a better way. If we can do that with electric vehicles that are running without emissions on the streets and less noise, that is even better. And if these electric vehicles are powered by renewable energies, we get the most out of Welectrify.

We need to work together for this goal. It´s about us in our world with our friends. We only have this world and we need to cooperate to make it a better one. We also tried to convince some car rental companies to support us, but also here they are afraid of changing their business model. The first short term effect that will be experienced soon is that with our app, car rental companies will be obsolete. There are enough cars on the streets.

What makes your business model different to other applications?

We connect people. As Eelectrify is also created as a social media platform, people also can share their driving experience at a very flexible APP. In the forum, Users can and discuss topics, that they are interested in. The aim of Welectrify is to use the benefits of a community to share and therefore share the space and resources what is already there. In general, it makes the driving experience more environmentally friendly and gets the people in touch with each other and engages people for e.mobility. It brings e.mobility to the people.

We are just a platform where you can connect, share and engage with your friends about anything you like. We are not trying to sell you anything. The user decides what he or she wants to do out of the platform we offer. In our power owner program of course we offer electric vehicles, too, but in that case, you enter more or less a whole program including an upgrade on our platform, rather than just buying cars.

With the power owner program, you become an ambassador for new mobility in your own group and community or neighbourhood. We help you to get what you need to run with us the power owner program. With the power owner program our power owners get three electric vehicles that can be shared in one specific area that is covered by one power owner. He or she is then responsible for covering the mobility of his or her neighbourhood. Have a look at the power owner program at welectrify.com. The third electric vehicle is basically for free for our power owners.

What types of things can users do through Welectrify?

Everything is implemented on Welectrify to connect, share and engage. It’s about us in our world with our friends. You can create a user account, use the messenger to book cars, use the shop, book the car from your friends in any booking system or group, share your car, you can do money transfers, any type of postings and ratings.

You can track your car at any time. Welectrify is a social media network for the community where you can make friends, have conversations and also either rent/buy an electric vehicle. Simply put, Welectrify is a social platform for e-mobility.

What type of customers do you see using the app the most often?

Social media pared with e.mobility is for everyone. As we said, you get the car from your friend or family in your own area. So, everyone can use it. We hope to get customers to our power owner programs that want to change something for the better, that are ready to stop wasting time and resource.

We only have this world- therefore we should change our way of thinking. With Welectrify we the community organizes itself with the goal of sharing what’s already there to stop wasting resources, time and space on the streets which is simply no longer available in mega cities. The problem will not be solved by producing flying taxis if the root of mobility is not changed in a way where mobility devices are actually uses for what they were built. A 5 seated car is built to transport 5 people. This is the case in 3 % of the daily routes.

We have different Type of Users:

Power Owner :

• Own the electric vehicle and either rent out or sell in the network of his friends and followers.
• Power owner is the micro investor and service provider.
• Provides maintenance and service for the rented out electric vehicle.
• You become a power owner when you get at least 3 electric cars from the Welectrify supply chain and list them on Welectrify platform. We help you with different models and subscriptions
• Power owner makes consistent money with small one-time investment.
• Makes friends and followers on the network.

Regular User:

• Rents or buys an electric car from the power owner at per his/her convenience.
• Makes friends and followers on the network.
• Becomes the participant of the next generation e.mobility community.
• By sharing the rented vehicle, he/she contributes to the environment with less pollution and less crowd on the road.

How do you ensure that your business activities are always sustainable?

Exclusively electric vehicles are offered and shared on our platform. We will try to run most of the cars with renewable energies. Welectrify’s first goal is to get more people to their wished destination with less cars.

The second goal is, that we get more people to their wished destination with electrical cars. And the third goal is, that these electric vehicles one day are powered by renewable energies. If we also can optimize and predict the routes through our AI program in a better and more efficient way, we can succeed in changing the way people get from A to B. And that is what Welectrify is about. Changing and optimizing your route. Where ever you go, whoever you go with and whatever you do, if you are with us and your friends on the platform, we want to create you the most pleasant experience in the most sustainable and most efficient way.

Are there ways that you could change or revolutionize the app to meet new markets?

We are currently adding Chinese as a main language at our APP and Website. Other languages will follow. For entering new markets, we have to face new challenges, such as taxes, polices etc. In the future we hope to expand with the help of local governments. Take Tirana in Albania for example, we there need the help of Edi Rama, the Prime Minister there, Erion Velijaj the mayor of Tirana and Joni Baboci, who is leading the smart city initiative there, to launch Welectrify. In that city especially there really is no space on the streets for more cars. In Tirana we have about 400.000 people and 300.000 cars.

We want to have only 120.000 cars that are only electric vehicles to offer the same mobility to the 400.000 people. This is an ambitious goal, but we want to reduce noise, pollution and the terrific traffic jams in Tirana. This goal we can only achieve with the support of the local government.

Welectrify embraces any help since Welectrify lives from the network and a network works best with clear guidance, help from everyone in the community and help from the government. The Jianshan government in China for example is also very open to our idea. In Germany we will start cooperating with Noerdlingen, a small city in Bavaria, where we plan to launch next year. These are role model examples of how to support a young start up trying to solve a problem. With more people using Welectrify, the more cars are offered, and more rides are shared with each other. Join us at Welectrify.com – it’s about us in our world with our friends. We only have this world, we want to make it a better place.

Thank you Gredi for sharing your thoughts with us!
You can follow up Gredi Nikollaj at https://welectrify.com