DALLAS — AT&T announced that it has deployed its 4,000th alternative-fuel vehicle (AFV) in its corporate fleet. The state AT&T operates in that has the highest number of AFVs is California. The company also announced it has deployed its 3,000th vehicle fueled by compressed natural gas.

The telecommunications company deployed its 4,000th AFV in Chicago, its 3,000th in Houston, and its 2,000th AFV in San Diego. All of the vehicles that hit these “milestone” numbers are Ford E-250 CNG-fueled vans.

The company said these deployments are the latest in its planned 10-year investment of up to $565 million to replace 15,000 fleet vehicles with AFVs by 2018. The company’s total fleet size is currently 71,500.

During 2013, AT&T stated it anticipates it will have purchased approximately 8,000 CNG vehicles at an estimated cost of $350 million. The company said it expects to invest an additional $215 million through 2018 to replace approximately 7,100 fleet passenger cars with AFVs.

The company’s plan will save a total of 49 million gallons of gasoline over the course of the 10-year deployment period. In addition, the plan will reduce carbon emissions by 211,000 metric tons. The company said this is the greenhouse gas equivalent of removing 38,600 passenger vehicles from the road for one year.

"As the economy rises and falls with fuel prices, we have a responsibility to look for smart ways to reduce our costs,” said Jerome Webber, vice president, AT&T Global Fleet Operations. “Putting 4,000 alternative-fuel vehicles on the road – including 3,000 compressed natural gas vehicles – is a significant statement about the ability of fleet operators to not only reduce costs, but also to cut vehicle emissions. Every alternative fuel vehicle on the road brings us closer to energy independence, and that’s good for our company and our country.” 

AT&T is also deploying all-electric and extended-range electric vehicles. Regional company fleets in St. Louis, Dallas and Los Angeles received the first of these vehicles. The company said it expects to deploy additional vehicles of these types in 2011 and 2012.