Focusing on the unique combination of hard-working functionality and environmental achievement, the Green Car Awards™ at the San Antonio Auto & Truck Show recognize vehicles that do the heavy lifting in real life while also keeping an eye on lower emissions, higher efficiency, and overall environmental improvement. This year, emerging on top for Green Car Journal’s 2017 Commercial Green Car of the Year™ is the Ram ProMaster City, the second year in a row this light commercial vehicle has earned the honor. Honda’s all-new Ridgeline is distinguished as the magazine’s 2017 Green Truck of the Year™.

Along with the Honda Ridgeline, finalists for this year’s 2017 Green Truck of the Year™ included the Chevrolet Colorado, Ford F-250 Super Duty, GMC Canyon, and Ram 1500. Vying for the 2017 Commercial Green Car of the Year™ along with the Ram ProMaster City were the Ford F-250 Super Duty, Ford Transit Connect, Mercedes-Benz Metris, and Nissan Titan XD.The Ram ProMaster City compact commercial van and wagon are ideally-sized for city use where maneuverability and versatility are key. The model’s strong suit is offering the hauling and commercial-use capabilities desired by businesses and fleets while also addressing the efficiency that has a direct impact on the bottom line.

ProMaster City is powered by a Fiat-derived 2.4-liter Tigershark four-cylinder engine that benefits from efficient Multiair technology. Its 178 horsepower is delivered to the road via a nine-speed automatic transmission. The combination provides an impressive 21 city and class-leading 29 highway mpg.

Honda’s all-new second generation Ridgeline returns to American highways with a design that’s more truck-like and refined at the same time. The model’s signature unibody construction delivers a smooth car-like ride unsurpassed in the pickup field, providing the functionality needed by most truck buyers with the ability to carry a 1500 pound load, tow up to 5,000 pounds, and transport five occupants in comfort. Its 280 horsepower V-6 provides satisfying acceleration and 26 mpg highway fuel efficiency.

Green Car Journal editors weigh the merits of all potential vehicles through its vetting process and narrow down the field to five candidates, which are then considered by the Green Car Awards™ jury. Jurors are veteran writers and editors in the light truck field, having served on staff at publications like 4 Wheel & Off Road, PV4, Hot Rod’s Pickups, Hot Rod Vans, Pickups & Mini-Trucks, and Vans & Trucks, plus auto buff magazines including Motor Trend, Hot Rod, Car Craft, Popular Hot Rodding, and others. All have owned and tested myriad pickup and van models over the years, which allows a keen perspective on the attributes and nuances that make for great pickups and vans that serve both personal and business uses.

The Ram 1500 EcoDiesel, a powerhouse pickup that offers the only advanced, fuel-efficient diesel engine in the light-duty truck segment, has earned the distinction as Green Car Journal’s 2015 Green Truck of the Year™.  The award was presented at the San Antonio Auto & Truck Show in San Antonio, Texas, in the state that justifiably lays claim to being ‘truck country.’

Green Truck of the Year™ honors a truck that best exemplifies what can be achieved when environmental performance is viewed as important as traditional core values like functionality, payload, towing capability, and versatility. Blending environmental achievement with these traditional characteristics is not easy, and in many cases it’s also not cheap. But it is needed. Auto manufacturers are now placing significant new emphasis on trucks that achieve improved fuel efficiency, feature better overall environmental performance, and in some cases run on alternative fuels.

In addition to the Ram 1500 EcoDiesel, this year’s award finalists included the all-new Ford F-150, Chevrolet Colorado, and GMC Canyon pickups, plus the efficient gasoline Ram 1500 HFE. Each of these pickups brings its own brand of efficiency and improved environmental performance to bear in the truck market.

The Ram 1500 EcoDiesel distinguishes itself with a powerful and highly efficient powerplant that breaks new ground in the light-truck segment, accomplishing its mission of improved environmental performance without sacrificing the core values important to truck buyers. The engine produces 240 horsepower and a substantial 420 pound-feet of torque while offering rather impressive fuel economy, at least by pickup truck standards, with official EPA estimates of 20 mpg in the city and 28 mpg on the highway. This exceptional fuel efficiency provides a driving range of over 700 miles between fill-ups. The pickup is available in Regular Cab, Quad Cab, and Crew Cab versions with either two- or four-wheel drive.

Some of the key features of the 60-degree V-6 EcoDiesel engine include a dual overhead camshaft with 24 valves, cast iron block with aluminum heads, and a 15.5:1 compression ratio. A 29,000 psi common rail fuel injection system with solenoid injectors is used. The engine is equipped with a diesel oxidation catalyst, diesel particulate filter, and selective catalyst reduction to make it emissions-compliant in all 50 states. It can also use B20 biodiesel fuel.

Along with its considerable towing, hauling, and people-handling capabilities, the Ram 1500 EcoDiesel intelligently focuses on efficiencies with active aerodynamics including grill shutters that close for less drag at highway speeds. Other efficiency measures like an eight-speed automatic transmission and an air suspension system that lowers the truck at higher speeds are used to optimize fuel economy and achieve lower greenhouse gas emissions.

When Chrysler introduced the first clean diesel engine in the light-duty pickup segment, there was no way to know just how many pickup buyers would be won over and drive one away from the showroom. Today, production of this truck model has doubled beyond expectations and continues to gain momentum. It was clearly a breakthrough move for the Ram brand and a deserving winner of the 2015 Green Truck of the Year™ award.

The San Antonio Auto & Truck Show has a big interest in trucks. After all, we’re talking Texas. Now ‘green’ is gaining even more emphasis at the show with Green Car Journal’s inaugural Green Truck of the Year™ award.

Green Car Journal has presented its coveted Green Car of the Year® award in Los Angeles for the past decade, recognizing the best and the brightest vehicles with improved environmental performance. The Green Truck of the Year™ award program in San Antonio is a natural complement. Trucks are a high-profile part of the San Antonio Auto & Truck Show and Texas is the largest truck market in the nation, making this an ideal venue for this new high-profile award.

In selecting the program’s five finalists, Green Car Journal editors consider all potential truck models in the U.S. market, weighing environmental attributes alongside traditional touchstones that define what makes a great pickup, such as functionality, versatility, safety, value, and style. The 2015 Green Truck of the Year™ winner is selected from these five finalists by a Green Truck of the Year™ jury comprised of automotive experts and Green Car Journal staff.

Trucks are no strangers to Green Car Journal. The magazine’s editors and writers have deep backgrounds with trucks, having served on staff at enthusiast truck publications during their careers. They have owned sport trucks, work trucks, custom trucks, and off-road trucks so they know what's important to truck buyers, just as they know the importance of 'green' features in the trucks of our future.

The 46th annual San Antonio Auto & Truck Show will take place on November 6-9, 2014 at the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center in San Antonio, Texas, with the 2015 Green Truck of the Year™ announced during the show's media day on November 6. Presented by the San Antonio Automobile Dealers Association, the show highlights the auto industry’s newest innovations and provides a ‘one-stop shop’ for evaluating the latest cars, trucks, and technologies. It is recognized as South Texas’ premier automotive event.