Blog Tesla Planning Supercharger Station With ‘Old School’ Drive-In Restaurant

Tesla CEO Elon Musk said a new Supercharger location near Los Angeles will also feature an “old school drive-in, roller skates & rock restaurant.”

https://twitter.com/x/status/949831212326993920

Musk announced the plans in a tweet. As followers asked for more details, Musk said the  Supercharger station will include an outdoor screen playing “a highlight reel of the best scenes in movie history.” And, Musk plans for the diner’s digital menu to pop-up on Tesla owners’ screens when the vehicle is placed in park.

https://twitter.com/x/status/949846430750920704

https://twitter.com/x/status/949859157493952513

As Tesla expands its Supercharger network and builds larger stations, the company has started adding amenities for customers waiting to charge. Tesla recently opened a 40-stall Supercharger in Kettleman City Kettleman City between Los Angeles and San Francisco that includes a lounge and cafe. The company is also reportedly developing a convenience store concept.

Grubstreet noted a report from trade publication Restaurant Business that Tesla’s chief technology officer J.B. Straubel presented a plan at a food-tech conference, showing everyone an “aerial depiction of a recharge center that included what looked exactly like a c-store.”

 

[Jeff Hudson]

In a way it's sad that today's youth has so much computerized social media and will probably not gravitate towards this real world social setting of meeting actual people in the flesh. I hope I'm wrong. Tesla could at least give it a try but I would not expect much from a fast food setting. I think they would be better off with a nice lounge with restroom setting and maybe something extra like a car wash and vending machines.

 

[Rowan256]

A milion years ago, you could just drive in, watch a movie and drive away, it was basically a cinema so big you didn't even need to step out of your car.

Who knows it could come back, I think it would be fun next to a motorway when going on holiday, tickets might be expensive, you get a full charge and on top of that a movie, you basically do several things at once, you can bring your children in, or who knows a date.

 

[Mobster]

OK...good for California. (Jealous) ...more superchargers near L.A. (center of the universe) WITH "groovy" amenities. Up here in Seattle we would just settle for SUPERCHARGERS in the SEA-TAC Bellevue corridor. Nothing .... nada.....zip. When I bought my first Tesla the sales person (excuse me "adviser") kidded about having to "shoo - away" owners from plugging in to the mall parking garage superchargers reserved for test drives. hmmmm. Ok, I am on my second one and love the car and the company. Yeah....I had to post a little "sour grapes" seeing plans to give California more. Seattle has so little sun we must deserve no superchargers. Or to be "shoo-ed" away. (end of sour grapes back to thankful for my 2nd Tesla and making the best of charging situation.)

from "Sales" site: "How does Tesla decide where to put Supercharger stations?
"Tesla Superchargers enable long distance travel and convenient charging in urban areas" Urban areas? Seattle, Tacoma, Bellevue is not considered an urban area? Home of Amazon, Starbucks, Microsoft, Boeing, on and on. Traffic jams that match or exceed anything in LA. But no superchargers.....ugh. ok....I know I said it would end...NOW..end

 

[S-2000 Roadster]

Up here in Seattle we would just settle for SUPERCHARGERS in the SEA-TAC Bellevue corridor. Nothing .... nada.....zip.

from "Sales" site: "How does Tesla decide where to put Supercharger stations?
"Tesla Superchargers enable long distance travel and convenient charging in urban areas" Urban areas? Seattle, Tacoma, Bellevue is not considered an urban area? Home of Amazon, Starbucks, Microsoft, Boeing, on and on. Traffic jams that match or exceed anything in LA. But no superchargers.....ugh. ok....I know I said it would end...NOW..end

I recall that the original idea for Supercharger stations was that they weren't intended for charging "near home," but rather for charging during trips that are long enough that you can't make it on a single charge. Thus, I wouldn't expect any stations in King County at all. Looking on the map, there are Supercharger stations in Centralia, Monroe, and Arlington - all of which seem to provide people on long journeys with a reasonable place to charge part way to their destination.

However, I see from your quote that Tesla is now using the phrase "urban areas" - so I didn't realize that the design goal had changed. Seattle / Bellevue is the second largest market for Tesla, outside their home in California, so it's very surprising that they haven't added the second most prevalent urban area to their Supercharger network.

 

[Jeff Hudson]

The "design goal" of the Supercharger network was bound to change once Tesla proved there was a yearning for EV transportation that even the growing Tesla Motors could not satisfy. I knew the urban Superchargers had to be added to the mix once the Model 3 reservations surpassed 100,000. There are a lot of people who want to buy EV's that live in apartments or condo's who decided against it due to a lack of reliable fast charging stations in the urban areas.

 

[jerry505]

why not have a meeting place where people stop and visit with one another instead of movies?

 

[Brando]

How about a list of great movie scenes with Drive-ins as the set?
Was it HEAT - bonds/money exchange gone bad?? sniper on the roof

 

[cpa]

A milion years ago, you could just drive in, watch a movie and drive away, it was basically a cinema so big you didn't even need to step out of your car.

Who knows it could come back, I think it would be fun next to a motorway when going on holiday, tickets might be expensive, you get a full charge and on top of that a movie, you basically do several things at once, you can bring your children in, or who knows a date.

I think that the "old-school" drive-in referred to is the 1950s version of fast food. You drove up, ordered your food, and frequently it was delivered to you by a young lady in a skimpy outfit on roller skates. (cf the opening scene in "American Graffiti.") I can see the confusion between a drive-in restaurant and a drive-in movie. Those were cool too. Alas, the real estate became more valuable for subdividing that it was for those lovely summer evenings with your girlfriend glued to your side on the bench seat of your Chevy (or in the back seat of your dad's Packard.)

 

[BerTX]

I think that the "old-school" drive-in referred to is the 1950s version of fast food. You drove up, ordered your food, and frequently it was delivered to you by a young lady in a skimpy outfit on roller skates. (cf the opening scene in "American Graffiti.") I can see the confusion between a drive-in restaurant and a drive-in movie. Those were cool too. Alas, the real estate became more valuable for subdividing that it was for those lovely summer evenings with your girlfriend glued to your side on the bench seat of your Chevy (or in the back seat of your dad's Packard.)

Daylight Savings Time killed the drive-in movie.

 

[NCAviator]

Tesla CEO Elon Musk said a new Supercharger location near Los Angeles will also feature an “old school drive-in, roller skates & rock restaurant.” 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 Musk announced the...
[WPURI="https://teslamotorsclub.com/blog/2018/01/08/tesla-planning-supercharger-station-with-old-school-drive-in-restaurant/"]READ FULL ARTICLE[/WPURI]

Nothing wrong with identifying services that owners need while charging and provide it to them. Of course Tesla and others could solve the problem of charging times. Looks like Fisker will do it before Tesla.

 

[cpa]

I think that at the grand opening of this '50s drive-in, Elon Musk should embrace the era. He should arrive sporting a pompadour with DA, white T-shirt with a pack of Camels rolled up in his sleeve, Levi's with the cuffs rolled up at his ankles, and black loafers with white socks.

Meanwhile, he should arrange for three hours of unscoped air checks of the Wolfman and three hours of an old show from circa 1958-59 from KFWB, Channel 98.

 

[cpa]

Daylight Savings Time killed the drive-in movie.

I do not know the facts, BerTX, so I cannot disagree with you. At least here in California, drive-ins were generally open March through November (some year-round) and were extremely popular until the mid-to-late '70s. But the decline of the double-feature with cartoon/newsreel and the proliferation of mega-theaters that showed but one movie started the demise. And I have personal knowledge that three of the drive-ins in Southern California were snapped up for subdividing or shopping malls. Better return on your investment.

DST has been around in California since WWII, I believe. Not sure about the rest of the lower 48. Even at the solstice, it is dark by 8:30, which allowed for ample time for two movies. But perhaps in higher latitudes the start time would be 10PM, dunno. I've never spent any time at 45+ degrees north.

Cheers!

 

[BerTX]

I do not know the facts, BerTX, so I cannot disagree with you. At least here in California, drive-ins were generally open March through November (some year-round) and were extremely popular until the mid-to-late '70s. But the decline of the double-feature with cartoon/newsreel and the proliferation of mega-theaters that showed but one movie started the demise. And I have personal knowledge that three of the drive-ins in Southern California were snapped up for subdividing or shopping malls. Better return on your investment.

DST has been around in California since WWII, I believe. Not sure about the rest of the lower 48. Even at the solstice, it is dark by 8:30, which allowed for ample time for two movies. But perhaps in higher latitudes the start time would be 10PM, dunno. I've never spent any time at 45+ degrees north.

Cheers!

You're right, there were probably multiple factors. I'll wager the inability to keep people from bringing in food and drinks was a big factor, too. I'm sure theaters get more than half of their income from refreshments.

 

[djplong]

Here in New England, you can tell what killed the drive-ins. Here's what all the drive-ins, that were in my area, became:

Nashua Drive-In (actually in Merrimack) - Campus for defense contractor (now BAE Systems)
Litchfield Drive-In (Showed X-rated movies - I swear I'm not making this up - some called it "The Great Wall of Litchfied") - Single-family houses.
Chelmsford Twin Drive-In - Condo developments
Tyngsboro Drive-In - Parking lot for Nashua's Pheasant Lane Mall
Lawrence Drive-In - Home Depot

The only one in my area still left is the Milford Twin Drive-In. They haven't yet been consumed by high property buyout offers.

 

[Brn2Run]

Dont ask me how I got to this article, cause I dont know

But it didnt happen, or did it?