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FACT BRIEF

Does the Biden administration want to make Army tanks ‘all electric’?

By Tom Kertscher
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NO

President Joe Biden’s administration has not set forth plans to make all Army tanks electric.

Alluding to the administratrion, former President Donald Trump claimed on May 1, 2024, in Waukesha, Wisconsin, that “they want to make our Army tanks all electric."

A 2022 Army climate strategy plan, which does not mention tanks, calls for fielding an all-electric light-duty non-tactical vehicle fleet by 2027, and fully electric tactical vehicles by 2050.

None of those vehicles include tanks.

No other plans have been released to go to electric tanks, said engineer Fabian Villalobos, a vehicle electrification and national security expert at the RAND Corp. think tank.

Several fact-checkers found no evidence to back similar Trump claims.

Trump’s campaign cited a June 2023 Bloomberg Law news article said the military has a “grand vision of an all-electric fleet of tanks.” The article discussed the military considering the feasibility, but no specific plans.

See a full discussion of this at Wisconsin Watch
This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.
Sources
Rev Former President Donald Trump Wisconsin visit; 2nd trip to swing state
U.S. Army Climate Strategy
RAND Corp. Do Generals Dream of Electric Tanks?
Google Docs Fabian Villalobos email 5/3/24
New York Times Trump Misleads on Energy and Jobs at Houston Rally
PolitiFact Trump said the Biden administration wants to ‘make our Army tanks all electric.’ That’s False
FactCheck.org Trump’s False Claim That U.S. Military Moving to Electric Tanks
Bloomberg Law US Army’s Electric Tanks on Hold as Battery Technology Develops
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About fact briefs published on Gigafact
Fact briefs are short, credibly sourced summaries that offer “yes/no” answers in response to claims found online. They rely on publicly available, often primary source data and documents. Fact briefs are created by contributors to Gigafact —a nonprofit project looking to expand participation in fact-checking and protect the democratic process. See all fact briefs here.