Elon Musk tweets some crazy stuff, but every now and then there is something of genuine interest. Take for example a 2018 tweet in which he envisages old school-inspired drive-in restaurants at Tesla charging stations. It sounds like quite an interesting idea and a recently filed trademark could see that dream come to fruition.
The trademark in question was filed under the category of “Restaurant services, pop-up restaurant services, self-service restaurant services, take-out restaurant services” with the United States Patent and Trademark Office on 28th May 2021, according to a report initially covered by Electrek.
The trademark is currently awaiting examination and will be reviewed come 27th August. If approved, hopefully Musk will be able to share further details on his favourite social media platform.
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
For now, it remains to be seen what the larger plan is for Tesla venturing into the restaurant business, but having an exclusive chain of drive-ins next to selected charging stations could certainly see more people heading to them to juice by their electric vehicle.
The filing does not include all the details, but does show that the company is trademarking the word Tesla, as well as the letter T under the restaurants category, so perhaps a partnership with an existing fast food giant or chain could be in the offing too.
A collaborative effort between Tesla and McDonald’s for example has a good ring to it, or even something more regional like California’s In and Out franchise would garner significant interest.
Either way, any such announcement would also serve as a distraction from some of the other news involving Tesla of late and the divisive Autopilot self-driving technology it is constantly refining.
For those outside the US, and especially South Africans, however, the prospect of charging up our EV at a Tesla Drive-In remains a distant possibility.
