Tesla plans to roll out more electric supercharging stations this year, especially in big cities, which should double the size of its network. But even with more places to juice up your Tesla, it still takes far longer to refill an EV than gassing up a fossil fuel-powered car. But the electric vehicle maker is considering adding small convenience stores to the stations so you can relax and refuel yourself while you wait.
As Grub Street noted, earlier this week at FSTEC, the food tech conference, Tesla’s CTO JB Straubel mentioned that folks are already spending time waiting for their cars to charge — why not make their stay a little more comfortable? “People are coming and spending 20 to 30 minutes at these stops,” waiting for their Teslas to suck up electric power, Restaurant Businessquoted Straubel saying at the conference. “They want to eat, they want to have a cup of coffee, they want to use the bathroom.”
Straubel reportedly showed the audience mock-ups of service stop designs, which had begun to resemble traditional convenience stores. Not that Tesla will get into the business itself — instead, it would seek partners to run them. Straubel noted that the company has already been working with restaurants, and “That can only start scaling up.”
This article by David Lumb originally appeared on Engadget, your definitive guide to this connected life.
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