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CNG Fills Up AT&T's Alt-Fuel Fleet

To meet a target of 15,000 alt-fuel vehicles by 2019, AT&T is replacing 8,000 of its fleet’s petroleum-powered service vehicles with compressed natural gas (CNG) models. This year, 1,850 service vehicles will be converted to CNG.

Grace Suizo
Grace SuizoFormer Senior Editor
Read Grace's Posts
May 12, 2010
CNG Fills Up AT&T's Alt-Fuel Fleet

AT&T plans to complete 1,850 CNG conversions during 2010.

Photo: AT&T

3 min to read


With one year down and less than nine to go, AT&T is making steady progress toward its 10-year goal to deploy more than 15,000 alternative-fuel vehicles in its fleet. Just this February, the company announced the deployment of its 1,000th alt-fuel vehicle — a compressed natural gas (CNG) van counted as one of 8,000 total CNG vehicles AT&T has committed to operating within the next four years. Representing the largest U.S. corporate CNG initiative to date, AT&T plans to complete 1,850 CNG conversions during 2010.

Investing in the Cause

Ranked No.1 on Automotive Fleet's 2010 Top 300 Commercial Fleets (based on total fleet size), AT&T currently operates 77,000 vehicles in its fleet. The fleet comprises a range of vehicle types, including light utility-bed trucks, vans, light aerial lift trucks, medium- and heavy-duty trucks, passenger cars, pickups, and wheeled work equipment. Company vehicles are used by departments including Installation & Maintenance, Construction, Central Office Operations, Mobility, Logistics, and Sales.

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AT&T's CNG commitment follows the company's deployment of 105 alternative-fuel vehicles (AFVs) beginning in June 2008, a program spearheaded by Jerome Webber, vice president — fleet operations, and 2009 Environmental Leadership Award recipient.

After investigating natural gas vehicle options, benefits, and supply chain availability, AT&T field-tested 25 CNG-powered installation-and-maintenance (I&M) service vans in several of its California depots. Other alt-fuel models tested included 65 electric hybrid passenger vehicles and 15 hybrid-electric conversion work trucks. After deploying the units and evaluating their performance, AT&T announced in March 2009 it would replace approximately 8,000 of its existing gasoline-powered service vehicles with vehicles powered by domestically available CNG over the next five years as part of a larger program to deploy 15,000 alternative-fuel vehicles by 2019.

According to Webber, "Clean-burning, natural gas fuel not only makes good sense for the environment, it makes good business sense as well. CNG provides a strong economic advantage compared to gasoline and diesel powered-vehicles."

The investment in CNG vehicles is expected to account for an estimated $350 million - about 62 percent of the total $565 million invested in replacing AT&T's older fleet vehicles with more fuel-efficient models.

Fueling its Commitment

BAF Technologies, a subsidiary of Clean Energy Fuels Corp., joined AT&T's project in June 2009 to perform the conversion of the vehicles to compressed natural gas.

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In the latest project developments, AT&T ordered BAF Technologies to convert 463 Ford E-250 vans to run on CNG by summer 2010. The order is in addition to 463 units previously delivered earlier this year. Through BAF, AT&T will convert a total of 1,850 vans in 2010 and is exploring the potential conversion of other vehicle types, including F-Series trucks. The vehicles will utilize the BAF CapComp System, a proprietary CNG fuel system certified by the EPA.

Clean Energy Fuels Corp. also has contracted with AT&T to supply compressed natural gas (CNG) fueling stations to support AT&T in its current commitment. As part of a multiyear master agreement, Clean Energy will build, operate, and supply CNG stations for AT&T use.

According to the Center for Automotive Research (CAR), AT&T's overall alternative-fuel vehicle initiative will save 49 million gallons of gasoline over the 10-year deployment period and reduce carbon emissions by 211,000 metric tons. Once the 10-year goal has been met, CAR estimates CNG vans will count for approximately 5.7 million of the 6.7 million-plus gasoline gallons saved and 19,310 of the 31,533 metric tons of carbon emissions reduced annually.

AT&T's CNG efforts have also earned the company recognition by NGVAmerica and the Clean Vehicle Education Foundation (CVEF) as a 2009 National NGV Achievement Award winner for actions to promote the use of natural gas in its fleet operations and to educate the public on the alt-fuel option. 

Originally posted on Work Truck Online

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