Some time ago on April 1st, VW Australia published article about their project "roobadge" , a machine learning, satellite tech, ultrasonic, active, kangaroo collision prevention gadget, it's still on their site, even the promo video looked kinda dodgy. I'm still not sure if it's real or not.
There are a lot of reasons to criticize Tesla and musk but opening a retro futuristic Jetsons nostalgic concept diner seems fine. Much better use of marketing dollars than another dumb commercial or billboard.
Agreed! Which stinks, because it seems fun, if a bit boring aesthetically.
If Tesla were still seen as culturally aspirational (or optimistic) like turn‑of‑the‑millennium Sony was[1,2,3], a retro‑futurist space serving primarily as a PR campaign could attract both better press and loads of visitors. Even though the Metreon project ultimately failed financially[4], people initially came in the millions because they wanted to experience Sony’s vision of the future[5,6]. Tesla’s inability to generate even a modicum of enthusiasm (instead sparking ridicule) is telling; sure the company’s goodwill has eroded, but more importantly so has its social cachet[7]. Said another way: people are no longer interested in inhabiting a future envisioned by Tesla/Elon.
“Tesla Diner welcomes those who don't own Tesla vehicles and is willing to charge cars manufactured by anyone whose ports are compatible with Tesla's charging cables. No EV means no parking in the diner's lot, though - gas-guzzlers will need to use street parking or a nearby garage, according to Tesla's FAQ page for the diner.”
Honestly, this is a good look.
It’s messaging EV superiority, something we’ve lacked under this administration. But it isn’t being a dick by prioritising Teslas.
It’s a playful, low-stakes branding move. I’d have added minor servicing options, à la the Apple Store, or maybe more accurately the IKEA cafeteria, but I’m not sure this move per se deserves the heat.
Musk has done too much brand damage for anything Tesla to look good for a while to come. Tesla's market share loss in Europe corresponds with Musk interfering in European politics and his fascist salutes:
Unfortunately for Tesla their look, their brand, and the associations of being "very into Tesla" are quite tainted by Elon Musk. What his association with Trump couldn't do, his double Hitlergruß managed effortlessly, and the precipitous drop in sales after that showed. The hellscape that X/Twitter has become sure doesn't help either.
I think this is a good idea that would have worked before the brand was this tainted, but now it feels like it's naturally going to attract the specific sort who don't mind being visibly associated with that taint.
It's amazing - they're re-inventing the gas station with a White Castle from first principles. Maybe they'll build a Tesla Buccees with a thousand superchargers and a gift shop next. Innovation is back, everybody!
This is already the business model for chargers in other countries. Heck long haul truck stops have used this model for decades.
Figure that super chargers are mostly for people on road trips who have just driven 3+ hours, this makes perfect sense. The only strange part is that is hasn't been tried earlier, though I imagine a certain critical mass is needed for it to be viable.
(A good friend of mine runs a successful startup in another country following a similar business model)
I'm surprised they didn't take the approach of setting up ghost kitchens to sell crappy food on the various delivery apps which are delivered by Teslas. Get some Saudi funding for it and shovel the money into predatory loans to "owner-operator" drivers.
The layout of this diner is so weird and with both close spaces and limited seating while having a pretty huge footprint and a parking lot for 80->300 people. Not to mention the fact that a large portion of it's capacity is outdoors on the top level.
The video showed the diner with (as I counted) around 30 or 40 people in it.
I have to wonder, like, WTF is going on with the giant amount of reserved center space on that diner? It looks like they allocated like 10% of the space for actual eaters and 90% for everything from fridges to bathrooms to kitchens. Do they really need all that space for those things?
I don't see any mention of this on their site, but they probably could not have picked a location with better symbolism.
It's on what was once part of the historic US Route 66, one of the most famous and important motorways in US history. It was often called the "Main Street of America" or "The Mother Road".
During the Dust Bowl in the '30s it carried hundreds of thousands of people migrated westward to escape the devastation from the drought. It connected rural and urban communities from Chicago to Los Angeles, helping small towns thrive by bringing commerce and tourists.
The need to provide services to all those people led to the creation of many roadside attractions and businesses, which was the birth of the American roadside culture with quirky attractions, motels, diners, and a spirit of adventure and road tripping. McDonalds started next to it.
It became a symbol of mobility and freedom. It's been featured in song and film.
The Tesla diner is just the sort of kind of odd thing that would have been right at home on Route 66.
I thought this was an April Fools joke, but it's on the Tesla website: https://www.tesla.com/tesla-diner
You can also see the construction on Google Maps: https://www.google.com/maps/place/7001+Santa+Monica+Blvd,+We...
Some time ago on April 1st, VW Australia published article about their project "roobadge" , a machine learning, satellite tech, ultrasonic, active, kangaroo collision prevention gadget, it's still on their site, even the promo video looked kinda dodgy. I'm still not sure if it's real or not.
Found the promotional video https://youtu.be/W9klRlKoEQk
There are a lot of reasons to criticize Tesla and musk but opening a retro futuristic Jetsons nostalgic concept diner seems fine. Much better use of marketing dollars than another dumb commercial or billboard.
Agreed! Which stinks, because it seems fun, if a bit boring aesthetically.
If Tesla were still seen as culturally aspirational (or optimistic) like turn‑of‑the‑millennium Sony was[1,2,3], a retro‑futurist space serving primarily as a PR campaign could attract both better press and loads of visitors. Even though the Metreon project ultimately failed financially[4], people initially came in the millions because they wanted to experience Sony’s vision of the future[5,6]. Tesla’s inability to generate even a modicum of enthusiasm (instead sparking ridicule) is telling; sure the company’s goodwill has eroded, but more importantly so has its social cachet[7]. Said another way: people are no longer interested in inhabiting a future envisioned by Tesla/Elon.
[1] https://youtu.be/i3-3dvgYt7c?feature=shared&t=129
[2] https://youtu.be/1iijVmH74jc?feature=shared
[3] https://www.wired.com/1999/06/metreon-the-entertainment-mall
[4] https://www.sfgate.com/business/article/sony-rethinking-oper...
[5] https://sophiasmith.medium.com/the-original-sony-metreon-was...
[6] https://www.sfchronicle.com/oursf/article/Requiem-for-Sony-M...
[7] https://www.emerging-strategy.com/how-elon-musks-politics-ar...
“Tesla Diner welcomes those who don't own Tesla vehicles and is willing to charge cars manufactured by anyone whose ports are compatible with Tesla's charging cables. No EV means no parking in the diner's lot, though - gas-guzzlers will need to use street parking or a nearby garage, according to Tesla's FAQ page for the diner.”
Honestly, this is a good look.
It’s messaging EV superiority, something we’ve lacked under this administration. But it isn’t being a dick by prioritising Teslas.
It’s a playful, low-stakes branding move. I’d have added minor servicing options, à la the Apple Store, or maybe more accurately the IKEA cafeteria, but I’m not sure this move per se deserves the heat.
Musk has done too much brand damage for anything Tesla to look good for a while to come. Tesla's market share loss in Europe corresponds with Musk interfering in European politics and his fascist salutes:
https://eu-evs.com/marketShare/ALL/Groups/Line/All-time-by-Q...
Europeans don't want swasticars.
Unfortunately for Tesla their look, their brand, and the associations of being "very into Tesla" are quite tainted by Elon Musk. What his association with Trump couldn't do, his double Hitlergruß managed effortlessly, and the precipitous drop in sales after that showed. The hellscape that X/Twitter has become sure doesn't help either.
I think this is a good idea that would have worked before the brand was this tainted, but now it feels like it's naturally going to attract the specific sort who don't mind being visibly associated with that taint.
It's amazing - they're re-inventing the gas station with a White Castle from first principles. Maybe they'll build a Tesla Buccees with a thousand superchargers and a gift shop next. Innovation is back, everybody!
This is already the business model for chargers in other countries. Heck long haul truck stops have used this model for decades.
Figure that super chargers are mostly for people on road trips who have just driven 3+ hours, this makes perfect sense. The only strange part is that is hasn't been tried earlier, though I imagine a certain critical mass is needed for it to be viable.
(A good friend of mine runs a successful startup in another country following a similar business model)
Buc-ees have Superchargers, Tesla has had a partnership with them since 2021.
https://buc-ees.com/locations/?_sft_wpsl_store_category=tesl...
https://teslamotorsclub.com/tmc/threads/tesla-partnership-wi...
(love buc-ees, charge there whenever I can)
They are going to innovate servers on electric roller skates to deliver the food right to your car.
I'm surprised they didn't take the approach of setting up ghost kitchens to sell crappy food on the various delivery apps which are delivered by Teslas. Get some Saudi funding for it and shovel the money into predatory loans to "owner-operator" drivers.
The layout of this diner is so weird and with both close spaces and limited seating while having a pretty huge footprint and a parking lot for 80->300 people. Not to mention the fact that a large portion of it's capacity is outdoors on the top level.
The video showed the diner with (as I counted) around 30 or 40 people in it.
I have to wonder, like, WTF is going on with the giant amount of reserved center space on that diner? It looks like they allocated like 10% of the space for actual eaters and 90% for everything from fridges to bathrooms to kitchens. Do they really need all that space for those things?
> limited seating while having a pretty huge footprint and a parking lot for 80->300 people
The seating capacity, per this article and Tesla's site, is 250. That fits if the parking lot can hold 80-300 people (80 EVs, 1-4 people per).
It looks more like an event space than a diner optimized for patrons
I don't see any mention of this on their site, but they probably could not have picked a location with better symbolism.
It's on what was once part of the historic US Route 66, one of the most famous and important motorways in US history. It was often called the "Main Street of America" or "The Mother Road".
During the Dust Bowl in the '30s it carried hundreds of thousands of people migrated westward to escape the devastation from the drought. It connected rural and urban communities from Chicago to Los Angeles, helping small towns thrive by bringing commerce and tourists.
The need to provide services to all those people led to the creation of many roadside attractions and businesses, which was the birth of the American roadside culture with quirky attractions, motels, diners, and a spirit of adventure and road tripping. McDonalds started next to it.
It became a symbol of mobility and freedom. It's been featured in song and film.
The Tesla diner is just the sort of kind of odd thing that would have been right at home on Route 66.
> Seating for 250 people is available in the Tesla Diner's first and open-air second floor.
The Register is British. I thought Brits would call those the ground floor and first floor.
Are they following US conventions in this story because the diner is in the US, or what?
It seems like the whole stock market is just becoming an “attention meter”. Don't look at the numbers... look a diner, stock goes up.
They are using beef tallow for the fries, which is a good development.
It’s interesting there is no non-EV parking. Will they tow you?
Is the tallow circulated as a supercharger cooling medium? That would be some innovation.
Investing in infrastructure to provide an oasis with food and drink while a car recharges is a solid idea.
I have many reasons to criticize Elon, but it might be the rare useful idea in this case.
Remember. Mc Donald’s are not in the Burger business.
> pivots
shameless clickbait