TESLA, to build a Drive-In restaurant in L.A!
Tesla is reported to have submitted blueprints for a diner, EV charging station and movie theater all in one, idea generated by CEO’s Elon Musk who tweeted years ago.
Tesla, submitted plans last week for a 24-hour charging station in Los Angeles, that would also include a drive-in restaurant and movie theater, more than four years after Musk first aired the idea in a tweet.
*Tweet on Drive-in idea by Elon Musk
Gonna put an old school drive-in, roller skates & rock restaurant at one of the new Tesla Supercharger locations in LA
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 7, 2018
The proposed Tesla Supercharger Diner & Drive-In would include a two-story restaurant with indoor and outdoor seating as well as two movie screens and 34 Tesla charging ports.
The idea is to give Tesla owners something to do while they wait for their car to charge, which takes about half an hour, according to the plans submitted with LA’s planning department. The restaurant will also be open to the public.
The plans are the automaker’s latest step into the world of foodservice, which it views as a way to support its EV charging stations, or Superchargers.
Tesla restaurant blueprint
Tesla restaurant blueprint shows Tesla’s proposed two-story restaurant along with bamboo landscaping that would frame two movie screens. / Source: Los Angeles City Planning Department
“People are coming and spending 20 to 30 minutes at these stops,” Tesla Chief Technology Officer JB Straubel said at the FSTEC conference in 2017. “They want to eat, they want to have a cup of coffee, they want to use the bathroom.”
- Blueprints showed a snackbar and a carhop area, suggesting that customers would be able to have food brought to their car
There will also be two movie screens that people can view from their cars or the restaurant’s rooftop seating area. Programming will be in 30-minute increments, or about the same time it takes to charge a vehicle.
The restaurant and charging stations would be open 24/7, while the movie screens would operate from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m.
