/ Getty Images President Trump and Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk in the Oval Office at the White House on Feb. 11, 2025. Musk's team has orchestrated the firings of tens of thousands of career government workers, and tried to dismantle entire agencies. Ethics experts have grown concerned about how Musk could use his influence to benefit one of his six companies. Trump has vowed to remove Musk from any government matters that could affect one of his firms, even though Musk is already shaking up agencies, including the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, that could have presented a regulatory headache for the billionaire. The idea that the Trump administration would support a $400 million contract to buy Teslas would seem to run counter to Trump's opposition to electric vehicles. Trump has revoked Biden's executive orders backing funding and infrastructure for EVs, one of which sought to encourage the federal government to acquire electric vehicles. Experts interviewed for this story raised this possibility: Trump's State Department may have hoped to replace some or all of the department's fleet of armored cars and SUVs with Teslas, with the most fitting model likely being the Cybertruck, a large and angular vehicle that began deliveries in 2023. Musk has called it a "futuristic battle tank." Replacing whole State Department fleet with Teslas? 'It's possible' Security experts and former federal officials said $400 million would likely cover the purchasing and "up-armoring" of thousands of Cybertrucks. According to the State Department document reviewed by NPR, there are about 3,000 armored cars and SUVs around the world that are used to transport diplomats, VIPs and other officials working for the State Department. If every one of those vehicles was replaced with a new Cybertruck, which costs around $80,000 for an entry-level model, the bill would come out to about $250 million. The vehicles would then need to go through a process known as "up-armoring," which can cost tens of thousands of dollars per car. Multiply those costs by the size of the State Department's entire fleet and experts said $400 million would likely be a ballpark cost. "It's possible, diplomatic-level armoring starts in the mid-$70,000s," said Mark Burton, chief executive of Armormax, a Utah firm that installs bulletproof glass and other security-enhancing modifications to vehicles. "We're doing EVs all the time," he said. "We've done Rivians, [Tesla] Model S and Cybertrucks." Federic J. Brown / AFP via Getty Images / AFP via Getty Images Musk stands in front of the shattered windows of the newly unveiled Tesla Cybertruck on Nov. 21, 2019. Musk has claimed the vehicle is bulletproof though experts say the 7,000 pound truck would need additional armoring to meet State Department standards. Yet as of July 2024, when the State Department document was submitted to the White House, the department's officials had serious reservations about converting its fleet to electric vehicles. Among the issues was identifying an electric vehicle durable enough to be "armored up," which would require securing the vehicle's battery against something that could cause the battery to explode or catch fire, the State Department officials wrote. The officials wrote that "finding an electric vehicle that can hold the weight of armor and have viable range for protection driving are other initial challenges." Indeed, security industry experts say fully armoring a vehicle can add something like 1,000 pounds of weight. A Cybertruck already weighs around 7,000 pounds. The added armor could add stress to the entire vehicle and significantly reduce the electric vehicle's range, a potential safety concern, especially in countries with limited EV charging infrastructure. In a now-famous early demo of the Cybertruck, in 2019, Musk wanted to show a live crowd that the car was "bulletproof" and had Tesla's chief designer throw a metal ball at one of its windows. He did, and the glass smashed. "Well, maybe that was a little too hard," Musk said. Diplomats in Cybertrucks in Karachi and Mogadishu? Not likely, says former U.S. official With those concerns in mind, the State Department officials in the agency's document outlined a gradual timeline, writing it hoped to test the first electric vehicles prototypes in 2026, before discussion of wider adoption would begin. But the Trump administration's 2025 procurement document was on a far more aggressive timetable, noting it planned to begin accepting bids for the $400 million armored electric vehicle order this May, with the goal of completing a purchase by September. When Michael Evanoff saw that figure, he was instantly skeptical. Evanoff, a former senior State Department diplomatic security official with 40 years of experience, said the gold standard for diplomatic security are vehicles that are manufactured from the ground up with armor, not with armor added on later. Carmakers including Mercedes, BMW and GM offer such armored models. In fact, the State Department awarded GM a $300 million contract for armored SUVs in 2023. A Cybertruck, he said, would not fit the bill. "It would be hard for a Cybertruck to survive in a hostile environment,"said Evanoff, pointing to potential problems arising from the vehicle's weight after being modified with armor and battery life issues. "You're not going to see diplomats in Cybertrucks in Karachi and Mogadishu." Have information you want to share about the ongoing changes across the federal government? Bobby Allyn is available via the encrypted messaging app Signal at ballyn.77 Copyright 2025 NPR