Charging up your EV can be a long and lonely experience when you’re on the road, public chargers often located in out-of-the-way places with nothing to do while you wait, often as long as an hour or more for the batteries to suck down their fill of electrons. So, why not let EV owners chow down, as well? That’s the idea behind the 24-hour diner and drive-in theater Tesla is setting up in Hollywood. But it’s proven more difficult than expected for CEO Elon Musk to line up the sort of celebrity chef he’s been after to run the place. More from Headlight.News.
Musk first tweeted about a diner in 2018.
If the project stay on pace, Tesla will soon open a place along Santa Monica Blvd. in Hollywood where EV owners and their vehicles can plug in and chow down.
CEO Elon Musk’s latest project is a ‘50’s-era, retro-futuristic complex that will allow as many as 32 Teslas to plug in at any one time. Owners, meanwhile, will be able to charge up as well, so to speak, with the facility offering upscale diner-style food, along with giant movie screens set to show classic movie clips.
“It will be cool,” Musk said in an unusually terse social media post earlier this week.
A long wait
Along with the diner, the facility will have stalls for 32 EVs to charge.
Tesla has a long history of falling behind its delivery dates on vehicles like the Model Y and Cybertruck. It’s taken quite a while to get the new diner open, as well.
Musk began musing about a diner and charging station combination as far back as 2018. As the idea came together, the original plan called for the project to be set up in Santa Monica where the automaker already operates one of its largest charging stations. It ultimately chose to move a few miles east to Hollywood. It quietly began preparatory work in 2022, submitting an initial proposal to the City of Los Angeles that November.
The carmaker first went public at its annual Investors Day in March 2023 and last year received the latest go-ahead. No completion date has been announced. But, based on the way Tesla has handled so many other notable milestones, a big debut event is widely expected – if the ongoing controversy surrounding the CEO’s role in the Trump administration doesn’t get in the way.
Backlash
Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s behavior – including what many saw as a Hitler salute – has generated an increasing backlash to the automaker’s products.
Once hailed as a visionary and hero, Musk has become toxic to many due to his shift to the hard political right and, in particular, his role as the head of Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE.
In California, the biggest American market for EVs, sales have gone into a tailspin, according to the state’s dealer association. “California bought the most Teslas in the world and then he turned around and he stabbed us in the back and went with crazy wack job Trump,” Los Angeles resident Dina Six told TV station KGO.
The growing controversy has seen a big public backlash against not only Musk but his supporters. Walter and Margarita Manzke, owners of the premier Los Angeles restaurant Republique, triggered major fallout when he called the Tesla project “exciting.” He noted in a social media post that his wife was buying a Tesla, adding “I can tell you what side she’s on.” Walter Mazke later deleted the post but that has done little to calm calls for a boycott of the Michelin-rated establishment.
More Tesla News
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- Musk Under Growing Pressure to Quit Trump or Leave Tesla
A difficult search for a chef
Eric Span has reportedly signed on as chef for the Tesla diner.
The Manzkes aren’t the only ones caught up in the mess. Other chefs have reportedly steered clear of the diner project, especially following Musk’s controversial behavior since teaming up with Trump – among other things twice doing what many saw as a Nazi-style salute during an inauguration event.
Caroline Styne and Suzanne Goin, owners of LA’s well-regarded Lucques Group turned thumbs-down when approached by Tesla. Styne recently replaced her Tesla with a BMW EV.
The Wolfgang Puck organization also rejected an approach, according to the New York Times.
“I wouldn’t imagine most of my friends saying yes to this,” celebrity chef David Chang, another Los Angelino, told the Times. “But I couldn’t imagine them wanting to say that publicly, either, because of how polarizing both sides are.”
Ultimately, Musk and company did find a chef, according to an announcement this week on the CEO’s social media site X. Eric Span has, until now, focused his attention on delivery-only restaurants.
Competitors also want to make charging fun
Ionna’s first Rechargery.
EV experts point to data showing that 80% of charging occurs at home or office. But a large share of the current public charging network is located in remote places where motorists have little other to do than sit and wait. Research has shown that has scared away some buyers, especially women.
But Tesla isn’t the only company looking to improve the public charging experience. Ionna, the new company set up by eight EV manufacturers, opened its first station, dubbed the Rechargery, in Apex, North Carolina last month. While charging, motorists can go inside to buy food, with indoor and outdoor seating, the company promising to “set a new standard (for) ease of use.”
Other charging stations are popping up with convenient features, including high-end facilities with lounges and restaurants being developed by Mercedes-Benz.
How well Tesla’s Hollywood diner will fare is uncertain, with most of the company’s stores now facing boycotts and protests. But there’s little doubt that the charging station model is moving away from a solitary location in a dark parking lot to one where owners will be able to relax, eat – and feel secure – while plugged in.
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