BMW is on a bit of a mission. They were one of the first companies to actively back electrification of their vehicles with the creation of sub brand BMW i. The i3 and i8 were then released to a world not necessarily ready for the impact and stir they would cause.
Since then, BMW’s main brand has been busy evolving to adopt electrified power trains into its regular non i-branded mix. First was the X5 followed by the 225xe and 330e. Next was the 730e and next year the 530e and an expected 1-series, likely 130e, will be launched. Only the X1 and X3 have been left out, for now.
Middle of the field is the 330e, based on the everpopular 3-Series. It’s a recipe for success matching plugged-in efficiency with proven small-exec class. What’s more, it’s a relative bargain being more affordable than its competition while offering best in class performance and efficiency. It is for these reasons we chose the 330e as our class and overall award winner for the 2016 AutoVolt Electric & Hybrid Awards.
POWERTRAIN.
Power is delivered via an excitable 2.0-litre four cylinder petrol turbo engine that sits in the front and together with a powerful electric motor serves up 249bhp and 420Nm torque. Despite the obvious power CO2 is as low as 44g/km on the smallest wheel option and a typically enthusiastic fuel consumption average of 148.7mpg. Of course, if driving within the EV range this can improve, or if more reliant on petrol it will decrease. During our time with the car, we didn’t see much lower than 45mpg after a long motorway run after the battery had run out, while 99.9mpg was chirpily indicated on the dash when in EV-mode. The official EV range is 25-miles, but in reality you’re more likely to get about 16 from the somewhat undersized li-ion cells.
DRIVING.
This story is from the November-December 2016 edition of AutoVolt Magazine.
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This story is from the November-December 2016 edition of AutoVolt Magazine.
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