The US Department of State is planning to spend $400m buying new Tesla armoured vehicles, even as the carmaker’s boss, Elon Musk, leads efforts to slash government spending under Donald Trump.
A procurement forecast produced by the department showed the $400m (£320m) proposed spending on “armoured Tesla (production units)”. They are likely to be Cybertrucks, the newest model of the company’s electric pickup, given Musk’s claims that the vehicle is bulletproof.
The revelation raises the possibility of more conflicts of interest for Musk, who is one of the biggest beneficiaries of US government contracts through the companies he controls.
Musk’s stake in Tesla accounts for the bulk of his $383bn wealth, but his rocket company, SpaceX, is the most important contractor providing space launch services to the US government.
Yet Trump has also put Musk in charge of the so-called department of government efficiency, or Doge, named after an internet dog meme. Musk has set about gutting government departments he has accused – without providing substantiated evidence – of huge amounts of fraud and waste. Doge’s efforts have been criticised as illegal by many experts, who have said it is part of a string of actions by the Trump administration that appear to disregard the US constitution.
The Department of State forecast document suggests the Tesla contract will be awarded at the end of September.
The department website contains two versions of the forecast document. The first showed the Tesla planned procurement, entered on 13 December 2024, according to the document. That was a month after Trump’s election, but before he took office last month.
However, another version showed the entry was “modified” on Wednesday evening, apparently after the procurement was first reported by Drop Site News, an independent outlet. That entry was identical to the previous version except that the reference to “Tesla” was removed. Instead, it said the department would procure “armoured electric vehicles” (EVs), without referencing a brand name.
The US government regularly procures armoured vehicles. The same procurement document contained entries for an “armoured sedan” and “armoured EV (not sedan)” made by unnamed manufacturers, plus “armoured BMW X5/X7”. Those contracts were valued at $50m, $40m and $40m respectively.
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Tesla and the US Department of State were approached for comment.
