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2014 Green Car Technology Award Nominee – Dodge 3.0L EcoDiesel

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Green Car Technology in a Light-Duty Pickup Truck
Green Car Technology in a Light-Duty Pickup Truck

Green Car Journal’s 2014 Green Car Technology of the Year Award will be announced soon, but at least we know the ten nominees, which we’ve been considering for the last few days.

Which green car technology is best? Which will have the biggest impact? Most automakers, if they have any business sense at all, are working on making their automobiles more efficient, reducing emissions without impacting performance. Hybrid electric vehicle technology from Porsche, Mazda, Honda, Acura, and Cadillac are really pushing the bounderies of mass-producion hybrid electric vehicles. Green car technology developed by Ford, BMW, Audi are making even conventional vehicles more efficient. Today, we’ll take a look at the Dodge Ram’s 3.0ℓ EcoDiesel.

Interestingly, in the United States, diesel hasn’t seen the same kind of success that it has in other regions of the world. That’s really a shame, since diesel is inherently more efficient. In light-duty pickup trucks, the workhorses of many businesses, diesel engines deliver more torque than their gasoline-powered counterparts, but there aren’t that many out there. The new Dodge 3.0ℓ EcoDiesel, also available in the Jeep Grand Cherokee, could change all of that, but would it be a green car truck?

In order to make it to green car truck status, the new diesel engine is going to have to be something special, and it is. It delivers more torque than the 3.6ℓ Pentastar and the 5.7ℓ Hemi, as well as at half the engine speed these other two engines peak torque values. True, the EcoDiesel has less overall horsepower, but makes up for it in torque, as well as possibly returning up to 28mpg, which would make for best-in-class fuel economy. Even a couple mpg in this class, the best-selling class of vehicle in America, could have a huge impact on emissions in the transportation sector.

Photo credit: Chrysler Group / Foter.com / CC BY-NC-ND

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