What’s Going On With US State Department $400M Armored Tesla Cybertruck Order? – CleanTechnica

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Last Updated on: 13th February 2025, 10:33 am

There’s a bit of a weird story out there regarding a US State Department order for $400 million worth of armored Tesla Cybertrucks. There are still some things that are not clear about this, but I’m going to share what we know, and then add some conjecture. Here’s what has happened:

• In a State Department document that was titled “Department of State Procurement Forecast Year 2025 (Revised 12/23/2024),” a line item was included that read “Armored Tesla (Production Units),” last revised December 13 (until recently).
• The total for that line item was $400 million, making it the biggest expenditure on the list.
• Elon Musk apparently thought it was a lie, writing on X in response to an MSNBC/Rachel Maddow segment on the matter, “Hey @Maddow, why the lie?”
• Today, he wrote, “I’m pretty sure Tesla isn’t getting $400M. No one mentioned it to me, at least.”
• The document has now been retitled “Department of State Procurement Forecast Year 2025” and the $400M line item now just says “Armored Electric Vehicles.”
• While this is for a 2025 procurement forecast, the $400M line item is for a 5-year contract.

It seems to me that someone on “the Elon Musk side” who is now involved in setting State Department procurement plans intends to order $400 million worth of armored Tesla vehicles, probably Cybertrucks, this year. While that seems ridiculous in many regards, it’s also something that could have been expected, especially when you consider dramatic lack of normal processes, destruction of our separation of powers, and overall Banana Republic behavior that is typifying this Trump–Musk presidency. After all, Musk’s response to a reporter asking him how it’s not a conflict of interest for DOGE to audit Department of Defense contracts when the Department of Defense gives contracts to SpaceX was that he’s not personally the one at SpaceX who writes the contract proposals. They level of idiocy or insanity in that response is something I just can’t get over.

Would it be better for the State Department to use a bunch of armored electric vehicles (even Cybertrucks) than armored Cadillac Escalades or Ford Tahoes or Chevrolet Suburbans or such? I certainly think so. However, is this all starting to come across as blatant corruption? Well …. when you put “Tesla” on the line item before putting out a request for proposals, yeah, it sure does.

Also, as NPR summarizes, “As Musk’s deputies have gained access to nearly two dozen federal agencies, ethics experts have raised concern about the billionaire running into conflicts of interest, since Musk runs six companies, some of which are under investigation by government authorities. Musk’s companies, including Tesla and SpaceX, also have multibillion-dollar contracts with the federal government.” There are blatant and shocking conflicts of interest.

BREAKING: Elon, whom Trump allowed to speak as if he were President, says him auditing the DoD isn’t a conflict of interest because he is not personally filing for government contracts at his companies, his staff are. They really believe we’re that stupid. pic.twitter.com/oQg0wbWqax

— Really American 🇺🇸 (@ReallyAmerican1) February 11, 2025

At least 11 federal agencies targeted by the Trump-Musk firings and cuts “have more than 32 continuing investigations, pending complaints or enforcement actions into Mr. Musk’s six companies”

per @nytimes pic.twitter.com/ap1qsK9Voq

— Ian Sams (@IanSams) February 11, 2025

This morning, I sent a letter to the Office of Government Ethics (OGE) regarding @elonmusk‘s potential conflicts of interest.

Within minutes, the White House confirmed receipt.

By noon, President Trump fired the Director of OGE.

I want to know: Was this to prevent his answer?

— Adam Schiff (@SenAdamSchiff) February 11, 2025