[silencio]

this definitely feels like a quirk of the route. kettleman city is right in the middle of the la-sf drive along the 5. it's also basically like one of two stops that has more than just some fast food restaurants, and a good place for kids to run around.

breaking up the monotony of the ~400mi drive stopping at the halfway point because the range is likely just short of the destination (and i assume even shorter if there was traffic due to snow, plus range reduction in cold, plus the elevation through the tejon pass), plus all the other stops along the 5 being much smaller or more inconvenient...

i'd be much more curious about how to handle this kind of demand in usage. i drive a gas car and the gas station lines on this route can be atrocious too, but people are done in a matter of minutes so it makes no real dent on travel time.

[digikata]

I imagine a semi trailer rigged with a battery, grid connection, and a set of chargers for seasonal surges. Maybe even a deployable solar panel array, but I suspect the PV panel would be too constrained to be much more than a show piece.

[djrogers]

You mean like this?

https://cleantechnica.com/2019/11/28/tesla-rolls-out-literal...

[m463]

From what my friends told me, it was just about everywhere in california. Probably like thanksgiving airport crowding.