January 13, 2025
Tesla CEO Elon Musk has delayed some Cybertruck customer deliveries so the automaker can divert inventory to support victims of the raging Los Angeles wildfires, the billionaire entrepreneur said Jan. 12.
“Apologies to those expecting Cybertruck deliveries in California over the next few days,” Musk said on the X social media platform he owns. “We need those trucks as mobile base stations to provide power to Starlink Internet terminals in areas of L.A. without connectivity.”
Musk is the top shareholder in aerospace company SpaceX, which provides Internet service via Starlink satellites that connect with satellite dishes on the ground.
Tesla and SpaceX personnel were also providing drinks and snacks in affected areas, Musk said. “We are going to position Cybertrucks with Starlinks and free wifi in a grid pattern in the areas that most need it,” he said.
“The press will of course accuse me of grandstanding, but if this helps save even one house or maybe even someone’s life, we should still do it,” Musk said.
The Cybertruck is assembled at Tesla’s factory in Austin, Texas. Musk said customers whose Cybertrucks are diverted would receive replacement pickups within days. “A new truck will be delivered end of the week,” Musk said.
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Tesla delivered just over 4,000 Cybertrucks in October, according to the most recent registration data from S&P Global Mobility. California is Tesla’s biggest U.S. market, and the automaker has a factory in Fremont near San Francisco.
Musk also said on X that Tesla was “adding security personnel in vehicle” but didn’t elaborate. Musk agreed with an X comment that the presence of the Cybertrucks, which are equipped with security cameras, would discourage looting.
The Tesla CEO, who serves as an adviser to President-elect Donald Trump, was also accused of spreading disinformation by California Gov. Gavin Newsom and others on the X platform.
Musk boosted an X post suggesting that looting had been decriminalized in California. Newsom responded to Musk: “Stop encouraging looting by lying and telling people it’s decriminalized. It’s not,” Newsom said in a Jan. 11 post. “It’s illegal — as it always has been. Bad actors will be arrested and prosecuted.”
In a flurry of posts over the weekend, Musk also called Newsom “a subtard,” reposted a comment that Newsom should resign and downplayed the role of climate change in the fires.
Musk suggested government mismanagement and diversity hiring programs were chief culprits in the L.A. disaster. “DEI means DIE,” Musk said in a Jan. 9 post, referring to diversity, equity and inclusion. His comments came in response to a post criticizing diversity programs at the Los Angeles Fire Department. The L.A. fire chief, Kristin Crowley, is the first woman in that post.
Tesla , on its X account, also provided a summary of its efforts to support victims. The measures included helping affected employees with housing, transportation and meals; providing Megapack stationary batteries for first responders; and keeping its Superchargers open for Tesla owners who need to charge their vehicles, the company said Jan. 12.
Tesla said one Supercharger in Pasedena, Calif., was offline since it “was in the middle on the fire.”
Editor’s note: The location of the Tesla plant in Austin, Texas, was misstated in an earlier version of this story.
