Tesla’s $400 million armored EV US gov contract was indeed shady

New information about the $400 million US government contract for “armored Tesla” vehicles that was reportedly put on hold makes it look shady.

Earlier this month, we reported that the US State Department’s procurement forecast for the 2025 budget included an item called “Armored Teslas” worth $400 million.

As we reported, the item was added after the US election, but before Trump came into office in January.

After the item became publicized, the State Department said that the program was on hold, and it even removed “Tesla” from the item line and replaced it with “EV”. Trump’s State Deparment insisted that the talks with Tesla started under the Biden administration.

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However, a new report from NPR points to some shenanigans around the contract after the elections.

Sources familiar with the talks with Tesla under the Biden administration told NPR that there were discussions about armoring electric vehicles, and a budget of less than $500,000 was set for 2025 for it:

The person said the State Department and Tesla had agreed during the Biden administration to conduct research about armoring electric vehicles, but no money had been set aside to purchase armored Teslas for the State Department. A total budget of $483,000 had been approved to buy light-duty EVs as possible State Department vehicles. That plan was moving forward as recently as November 2024.

It’s not clear how the contract ramped up from less than half a million to $400 million.

A former state official told NPR:

“I don’t think this is a clerical error. It was likely someone who is new in [the] State [Department] who decided, ‘OK, we’re gonna do this with Tesla,’” said the former official, who was not authorized to speak about the matter.

With these new details, NPR went back to the State Department. A spokesperson said that the figure was just “an estimate,” and added that it was still in the early stages and “strictly to gather information.”

The State Department added that it “has no intention to move forward with the solicitation.”

Electrek’s Take

That’s shady as hell. Where did the $400 million figure come from? Why was “armored Tesla” on a line for food manufacturing?

This looks like a big whole shady mess, but that’s on par for this administration.