BMW is clearly offering a lot of its attention to plug-in or pure EV models. At this year’s Paris Auto Show, most of the company’s officials are missing, instead gathering in Munich to reach an agreement on how electrified cars with the blue and white roundel can become even more attractive. Apart from offering its first iPerformance models, like the BMW 330e, plans seem to include even more pure EV choicese.
Their focus will not only be on how many cars they can create and sell but rather on how to do it so that the spirit of the i sub-brand is kept intact. That means, the production cycle of these new models will also have to be sustainable while the materials used inside and out will need to be as eco-friendly as possible. It’s not an easy task by any means.
However, BMW will most likely also continue to offer bridge-gap solutions on the medium and short term. That includes the new plug-in hybrid models we have on offer today such as the BMW 330e, 740e or the BMW X5 xDrive40e. The most attractive solution of them all seems to be the BMW 330e, at least for now.
The car comes with some incredible claims from BMW, especially in terms of returned MPG. And while at first they may seem like a bunch of numbers you’ll never read on the on-board computer, real-life results aren’t bad at all. During our own review we saw that you can actually reach 25 miles on electricity alone inside the city, provided the traffic allows you to actually drive. Furthermore, outside the city, we recorded 36.7 mpg which is more than decent.
If mpg figures won’t impress you, the way the car drives definitely will. Thanks to instant torque being sent to the rear wheels, the 330e is impressive in almost any given situation, even if the battery is drained, eBoost kicks in from time to time. Sure, you’ll feel some of the weight of the batteries but overall, the car does a great job at masking it.
The guys from BMW decided to put together a clip dissecting the BMW 330e, to show us and other potential customers just what sets it apart from the rest of the range. The video might take 10 minutes to watch but it goes into a lot of detail to explain how the car works and is being built.