AT&T to put 8,000 natural-gas vehicles on road

It is the largest commitment by a U.S. corporation to vehicles using alternative fuels, the phone company said.

Natural gas is a fossil fuel, but burning it produces 25 percent less carbon emissions than using gasoline, AT&T said. Compared with oil, the U.S. produces a greater proportion of the natural gas it uses.

The company said it will spend the money over five years. While AT&T will buy the chassis from Ford, it has not yet selected a vendor to perform the conversion to natural gas, AT&T spokesman Fletcher Cook said.

The vehicles will be used by technicians who perform installations and maintain the telecommunications network, Cook said. The company will build 40 natural-gas filling stations to keep them rolling.

Compressed natural gas is already used by some cities and counties for their vehicle fleets, particularly for buses.

AT&T will also spend $215 million over 10 years to replace 7,100 passenger cars with hybrids, and eventually cars powered by other fuel sources, it said.

Dallas-based AT&T currently has 88,000 vehicles, Cook said.

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