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Issue: 1120 Date: 2/9/2012
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GM's Wentzville plant to build 1,200 CNG vans for AT&T
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| The alternative-fuel vehicles would save AT&T 49 million gallons of gasoline over a 10-year period and cut carbon emissions by 211,000 metric tons. |
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AT&T has ordered 1,200 compressed natural gas Chevrolet Express cargo vans to add to its fleet of service vehicles that will be assembled at General Motors' Wentzville plant.
The order marks GM's largest compressed natural gas (CNG) order to date, the automaker said.
AT&T is buying the vans as part of its plans to add alternative fuel vehicles to its fleet. Through 2013, AT&T said it will add 8,000 CNG vehicles at an estimated cost of $350 million.
"CNG technology is important to AT&T because it helps us reduce our fleet-based carbon emissions," Jerome Webber, AT&T vice president of Fleet Operations, said in a statement.
The CNG vans will be delivered to AT&T over the next three months, said John Dansby, plant manager of GM's Wentzville assembly facility.
CNG-powered vans have the capability of producing 25 percent fewer carbon dioxide emissions than similar gasoline and diesel-powered vans, according to GM. "Right now, (CNG vans) are a small percentage of what we produce, but we expect that to grow," Dansby said.
The Wentzville plant currently produces 33 vehicles an hour in two shifts, or about 600 vehicles a day.
"Twelve hundred is a significant number, and we're happy they are being produced here," Dansby said of AT&T's order.
Last fall, General Motors announced a $380 million expansion of the Wentzville plant, including the addition of second shift, which began earlier this year. The Wentzville plant currently produces Chevrolet Express and GMC Savana full-size vans. As part of the expansion, GM announced the new Chevrolet Colorado pickup truck will also be assembled in Wentzville, with production expected to begin in 2013.
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