Senior leadership from Frito-Lay North America division, a $13 billion convenient foods business unit, of PepsiCo, an Automotive Fleet magazine top 300 company, was joined by representatives from the Department of Energy and the State of Wisconsin to unveil Frito-Lay's first compressed natural gas (CNG) fueling station in Beloit, Wis.

In 2013, the company will build seven public CNG fueling stations across the U.S. and continue to grow its CNG fleet to 20 percent with 208 CNG tractors, making Frito-Lay's CNG fleet one of the largest CNG fleets in the U.S. CNG tractors emit less greenhouse gas than diesel tractors.

The seven new fueling stations, along with three other stations that will be in operation this year, will distribute an annual volume of two million gallons and grow to over eight million gallons in five years. Frito-Lay will eliminate 7,863 metric tons of carbon emissions, the equivalent of over 1,125 cars annually, Mike O'Connell, senior director for fleet operations of Frito-Lay North America said. Frito-Lays goal is to reduce its total fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions by 50 percent by 2020.

Questar Fueling, a Rockies-based natural gas company, and Trillium CNG, a company that designs, installs, and operates CNG stations, were selected as the two vendors to build the seven new CNG fueling stations. Trillium will be responsible for building CNG stations in: Jonesboro, Ark; Orlando, Fla; Charlotte, N.C.; Rosenberg, Texas, and Perry, Ga, while Questar will be responsible for building stations in Killingly, Conn. and Topeka, Kan.

Frito-Lay, in addition to CNG vehicles, has introduced all-electric trucks to its delivery fleet. In 2012, the company announced it would purchase 100 all-electric commercial vehicles from Smith Electric Vehicles, bringing the total number of its electric fleet to more than 280. These electric trucks eliminate the need for approximately 500,000 gallons of diesel fuel each year.