This story was previously discussed on HN but dismissed as a Biden initiative that Trump’s administration cut for efficiency. Turns out it’s the other way around as this new reporting uncovered:
> NPR has obtained a State Department document detailing that Biden's State Department planned to spend just $483,000 in the 2025 fiscal year on buying electric vehicles and $3 million for supporting equipment, like charging stations. It represented less than 1% of the hundreds of millions of dollars likely destined for Tesla vehicles after the Trump administration quietly revised a State Department procurement document.
> 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.
> After the original procurement document attracted widespread attention, NPR reported that the Trump administration appeared to have quietly edited the document, changing the phrase "armored Tesla" to the more generic "armored electric vehicles" without explanation. Eventually, the item vanished from the State Department's procurement document.
> The document claims it was originally published in December, at the end of then-President Joe Biden's term, but it does not appear in the Internet Archive for that month.
This is correct. President Biden signed and Executive Order requiring the federal government to purchase EVs. The State Department was working towards that, including for armored vehicles. President Biden lost the election and that effort ended when President Trump rolled back Biden’s EOs. That’s the story.
You didn’t read the article or chose to skip over several steps the administration took before rolling back the changes they introduced and then lying to cover their actions after they were questioned about it
Checks out that this is a government deal, crappiest vehicle possible for the most money!!
This story was previously discussed on HN but dismissed as a Biden initiative that Trump’s administration cut for efficiency. Turns out it’s the other way around as this new reporting uncovered:
> NPR has obtained a State Department document detailing that Biden's State Department planned to spend just $483,000 in the 2025 fiscal year on buying electric vehicles and $3 million for supporting equipment, like charging stations. It represented less than 1% of the hundreds of millions of dollars likely destined for Tesla vehicles after the Trump administration quietly revised a State Department procurement document.
> 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.
> After the original procurement document attracted widespread attention, NPR reported that the Trump administration appeared to have quietly edited the document, changing the phrase "armored Tesla" to the more generic "armored electric vehicles" without explanation. Eventually, the item vanished from the State Department's procurement document.
> The document claims it was originally published in December, at the end of then-President Joe Biden's term, but it does not appear in the Internet Archive for that month.
This is correct. President Biden signed and Executive Order requiring the federal government to purchase EVs. The State Department was working towards that, including for armored vehicles. President Biden lost the election and that effort ended when President Trump rolled back Biden’s EOs. That’s the story.
I think the story is that the Trump administration just got caught trying to pay a $400M kickback to Tesla.
The Biden EO was for less than 1% the attempted graft, and was not newsworthy.
The difference between $400m and $400k is approximately $400m
You didn’t read the article or chose to skip over several steps the administration took before rolling back the changes they introduced and then lying to cover their actions after they were questioned about it
[dead]