Tesla Gets Approval for Diner Drive-In EV Charging Station in Los Angeles

Tesla super chargers in Mojave, Calif., on July 10, 2019. Mike Blake/Reuters

Tesla’s first Supercharger diner is on its way to becoming a reality.

The company recently secured permit approval (pdf) from the Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety for its drive-in movie and diner Supercharger station in Los Angeles, Teslarati reported.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has hinted over the past few years at the possibility of a drive-in movie theater and diner built into one of its Supercharger stations that would house a few dozen charging stalls, two screens to show movie clips, and an eatery with rooftop seating.

The goal is to provide drivers with something to do while they wait for their electric vehicles to charge.

In January 2018, Mr. Musk posted about building an “old school drive-in, roller skates & rock restaurant,” and the new architectural plans provide more detail.

In 2022, he again mentioned the project on social media.

Originally, there were plans for the eatery to be built on a few different lots in Santa Monica, but the project is now set to be built on a large site at 7001 W. Santa Monica Boulevard, Teslarati reported.

The current building, the former site of a Shakey’s Pizza, will be torn down and replaced with Tesla’s Supercharger diner featuring a 3,800-square-foot enclosed lower level and a 5,500-square-foot outdoor seating and enclosed kitchen area above, Restaurant Business reported.

Tesla Supercharger stations can charge to a 200-mile capacity in 15 minutes.

Future Innovation

During Tesla’s Investor Day in March, Rebecca Tinucci, the company’s senior director for charging infrastructure, shared a few details about the company’s plans, including its vision for the future diner and drive-in theater charging site, a model of which was shown on screen for a few seconds.

“We have understood since Day One that a great charging experience is the linchpin to electric vehicle adoption,” Ms. Tinucci said during the Investor Day event.

She said Tesla prides itself on having the most convenient charging experience currently available with 80,000 charging points, 40,000 of which are Superchargers. Ms. Tinucci said Tesla has streamlined how their charging infrastructure is installed so it can be done at lower costs compared to the industry average.

“Our costs are often 20 percent, if not 70 percent, lower than alternatives,” Ms. Tinucci said.

She said the goals moving forward are to make all Tesla charging stations compatible with non-Tesla model EVs, to use renewable energy to power the charging stations, and to scale up the charging infrastructure.

“Our teams are currently scaling to install AC charging everywhere vehicles charge during the day so that we can power them from renewable sources,” she said.

Tesla has already made charging away from home a more convenient experience. Still, the EV giant wants to take it further by providing real-time information about which chargers are available and their specifications, so EV drivers don’t waste time or wait in lines.

Some EV charging companies have vehicle site data and others have site data on their trip planner app.

“At Tesla we have both, and what that allows us to do is to use the trip planner to route vehicles towards available sites and away from congested sites so we can balance our utilization without risking wait time,” Ms. Tinucci said.

Tesla will continue to innovate its charging experiences, she said.

“We’re really just getting started.”