Celebrating the 10-year anniversary of EVANNEX

I decided to move to South Florida from the Big Apple. It was 2011, and I just got married. I was also (soon after) blessed with a beautiful baby girl. My life was changing, fast. One day, at my parents house, my father called me into his office. He was amped. He pointed, enthusiastically, at the computer screen and said, "Check out this new car! I'm going to get one. It's called a Tesla."

Above: Mike, Roger, and Matt Pressman grew the family business, EVANNEX, as one of the first companies in the Tesla ecosystem (Image: EVANNEX)

A what? I said, "Isn't that the new Maserati?" He shook his head, "No, it's a Tesla Model S. And it's electric." Whoa. The sedan was certainly stunning. But an electric car? I wasn't surprised. My father was always into new tech before others. When I was a kid, he bought an Apple Macintosh (serial number 000787) back in 1984. Fast forward: it was time for him to get his hands on another revolutionary piece of tech — a Tesla Model S (VIN number 000184) in 2012.

My Dad had been participating in the Tesla forums and started a popular thread about designing the first-ever accessory, a DIY project mind you, for the Model S. It was a center console insert that he was building in his garage. Forum regulars pressed him to make one, commercially available, for their Tesla. My father asked me to put together a splash page on the web for those interested, a wait list of sorts. It grew, quickly, to a few hundred names.

"Well, I guess I can't just build only one in my garage... it looks like we'll have to start a business here," he told me. And so, in March of 2013, EVANNEX was born.

Wait, a father-son business? Could something like this work? Could Tesla grow into anything beyond a niche automaker? I didn't blink an eye — I took the plunge. My father rarely gets anything wrong. Rumor has it, according to my Grandmother, he got one wrong on his entire SAT test. Later, he got a PHD in mechanical engineering — graduating (ahem) summa cum laude.

Above: A look at some of those in the Tesla community who have embraced EVANNEX from its humble beginnings (Source: EVANNEX)

So, sure enough, my Dad was right. Tesla took off. A few years later, we recruited my brother Mike. He moved his whole family from Los Angeles and also took the plunge. Let's do it, we thought, a business built around the mission of Tesla. Risky? Sure. But, Tesla was gaining traction. And we, as a family, were in this together.

Looking back, it's been a wild ride. We've been featured on PBS, CNET, and Fox Business News. And now, we all drive a Tesla! But our site is expanding (rapidly) to offer a wide variety of non-Tesla EV parts and accessories from other automakers too.

We think it's wonderful to work hard and build, brick-by-brick, a family business. In addition, it's pretty cool to be involved in a much larger Tesla family that's growing, every day, all over the world.

Our family has grown too. In 2021, we were acquired by Enthusiast Auto Holdings EAH) and joined the ranks of some amazing companies in the automotive aftermarket space including ECS Tuning, Z1 Motorsports, Pelican Parts, Rennline, Texas Speed, and Turner Motor Sport.

Above: EVANNEX has been able to massively scale since its acquisition by Enthusiast Auto Holdings (Source: Enthusiast Auto Holdings)

The incredible team at EAH has helped us grow from about 150 parts to a catalog of nearly 1,000 parts! And although we still have a substantial presence in Florida, we've also got an amazing (and growing) support structure in Ohio as well. 

As Tesla and the electric vehicle movement grows, we can't wait to see what the next decade has in store for EVANNEX!