The battle for green vehicles has now found its way to the pickup truck segment. It was only a matter of time until it happened. Ford has been selling its F-150 pickup with an EcoBoost engine option for a few years now with great success. Chrysler, not to be undone, became the first automaker to offer a diesel option for a full-size pickup in the US: The Ram 1500 can now be optioned with a new 3.0-liter V6 diesel that'll likely pose a serious threat to its competitors.
And now the newly minted Italian-American automaker has just announced that the EPA has given the Ram 1500 EcoDiesel a 28 mpg rating. The truck can also tow up to 9,200 lbs and "gets 6 mpg better fuel economy than the best F-150 EcoBoost," according to Ram CEO Reid Bigland. Now, EPA ratings for the all-new, aluminum rich F-150 won't be in for some time. That truck will also offer a brand-new EcoBoost V6 that'll surely be more fuel efficient than its predecessor, so it'll be interesting to see how the Ram 1500 diesel will compare. There's also been a rumor claiming that Ford will launch a diesel F-150 in 2018. Perhaps the diesel pickup battle is just beginning.