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2021 BMW 330e PHEV Review: The smarter 3 Series

BMW 330e near bay
Roberto Baldwin/Digital Trends
2021 BMW 330e PHEV Review: The smarter 3 Series
MSRP $42,950.00
“It's not the most efficient PHEV on the road, but BMW's 330e stays true to its sport sedan roots.”
Pros
  • Smooth gas-to-electric transitions
  • Cheaper than gas version with incentives
  • BMW luxury and comfort
  • Hands-free traffic jam assistance
Cons
  • Occasional lurches in hybrid mode
  • Only 20 miles of EV-only range

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Between the thunderous glory of BMW’s M2 CS and the technological wonder that is the i4 sits the BMW 330e. It’s a vehicle with its tires in two worlds, merging the automaker’s decades of internal-combustion expertise with the electrification efforts of the modern version of the company that brought us the i8 and i3.

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The 2021 BMW 330e doesn’t telegraph its efficient plug-in hybrid (PHEV) underpinnings. Beyond the tiny “e” tacked on its badge and charging port door, from the outside, it’s just a midsized German luxury sedan. On the road, though, the combination of drivetrains makes for a most interesting and sometimes fun experience. But it also introduces some odd behavior that you wouldn’t expect from the automaker.

Available in two drivetrain flavors, the rear-wheel-drive 330e starting at $42,950 and the all-wheel-drive 330e xDrive starting at $44,950, the German sedan’s electric motor and battery afford it a tax credit of $5,836. That’s a pretty good chunk of change, and additional local and state incentives can send it higher, depending on where you live.

Even with the bare minimum incentives, new owners could roll out the door with a hybrid drivetrain for less than the cost of the regular 330i, which starts at $41,450 in rear-wheel drive.

Profile of BMW 330e
Roberto Baldwin/Digital Trends

Performance

It ships with BMW’s 2.0-liter TwinPower Turbo inline 4-cylinder engine. Coupled with the electric motor, though, the 330e outputs 288 horsepower and 310 pound-feet of torque, an increase of 33 hp and 16 pound-feet of torque over the non-electrified 3 Series. So where’s the problem? For the most part, there isn’t one. For the most part.

The BMW 330e spends most of its time in hybrid mode, switching between gas and electric power as it sees fit in order to deliver an MPGe of 75. Behind the wheel, the vehicle delivers the 3 Series experience: Solid acceleration (zero to 60 in 5.6 seconds), luxury suspension that can be tightened for those backroad moments, and precision steering. But it’s not without its issues.

In hybrid mode, the 330e would sometimes accelerate quicker than we anticipated. Instead of a gradual application of power away from a green light, the 330e sometimes delivered a jolt violent enough to smack your head against the seat. Surprise! That did not impress our passengers. It wasn’t an everyday occurrence, and it never felt like it was a dangerous (the car would right itself immediately after the burst), but it happened about three times during our week with the vehicle.

BMW 330e badge
Roberto Baldwin/Digital Trends

This quirk nearly soured an overall pleasant driving experience with the 330e. On the highway, it’s a wonderful cruiser with plenty of room for four adults (five if those in the back seat don’t mind getting cozy). As with all PHEVs, while cruising at 70 miles per hour, the battery pack’s state of charge depletes quickly. At that point, the vehicle has an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) combined rating of 28 MPG.

Toss it in Sport mode, and while it’s no M car, it does enhance that experience for some backroad fun. Tight steering combined with the rear-wheel-drive drivetrain of our test model made for some lightly spirited driving. A hybrid boost in Sport mode gives the vehicle a little extra kick in the pants out of the corners and during takeoff while the turbos spin up. The additional weight of the electric motor and battery are apparent and require a slightly stiffer suspension, but the ride adjustment and bulk only place a small damper on the festivities of the sporty sedan.

For the daily commuter looking to reduce their impact on the planet, the EV-only mode is a great preview of what an all-electric 3 Series will be like. In a world where the Toyota Rav4 Prime posts 42-miles of range, the 330e’s 20 miles of range from a 12.0 kWh capacity battery pack feels disappointing. Still, even if a person had a 40-ish mile commute, half of it could be powered by electrons in a luxury sedan. During our mixed driving tests (highway at 70 mph and surface streets), the 330e posted 19.8 miles of range. That’s with us flooring it to get up to highway speed from an onramp with an EV-only mode top speed of 87 miles per hour.

Extended Traffic Jam assistance adds an extra bit of comfort to the horrors of gridlock.

Features

While it falls short of Toyota’s more efficient powertrain, the 330e really shines in its attention to luxury and technology. The interior includes the requisite comfortable yet embracing seats. It’s an appropriate mix of making sure you feel secure around hard corners without sacrificing the driver’s need to feel pampered.

The rear seats should keep passengers happy on long road trips, though legroom can be tight for those taller than six feet. Behind the seats, the trunk has ​​13.2 cubic feet of space, enough for a few large suitcases, a small cooler, and a duffle bag. In other words, you won’t be hurting for space on weekend jaunts. The space is slightly larger than with the Audi A4 and Mercedes C-Class, which have 13 cubic feet and 12.6 cubic feet of space, respectively.

The overall interior materials are high quality, with both controls and the 10.25-inch touchscreen slightly tilted toward the driver. BMW’s iDrive 7 infotainment system can be controlled either by the touchscreen or the rotary controller in the center console. The system has been around for a few years, but still delivers an easy-to-navigate framework which includes multiple customizable home screens that allow the driver to set the vehicle’s controls to their liking.

The system showed very little to no latency while using it either with our fingers or via the rotary dial. Most of the more important features were available with two taps, and even Apple CarPlay was just a tap away from the home screens thanks to a dedicated (but tiny) tappable icon located along the top of the screen. Sadly, Android Auto support is not available in the vehicle.

BMW 330e interior
Roberto Baldwin/Digital Trends

For fans of tangible buttons, climate controls are still actual physical buttons that reside below the touchscreen. BMW also offers a series of hotkeys that can be programmed by the driver. They’re joined by a real-life volume knob, one of the few left in the luxury automobile space. Like an animal on the endangered species list, we should do all we can to make sure that it returns in larger numbers to its natural habitat before they’re all replaced by sliders, buttons, and touchscreen controls.

While there is a tendency to only review the most exciting features of a vehicle on the open road devoid of other drivers and traffic, the reality is most cars will spend more time stuck motionless on the highway than speeding along on pristine asphalt in the middle of the desert.

BMW understands this, as evidenced by its impressive hands-free, low-speed driver’s assistance system, called Extended Traffic Jam assistance. The system works like GM’s Super Cruise, but at low speeds on the highway. While on a highway with clear road markings and while traveling below 40 miles per hour, the system will allow the driver to remove their hands from the wheel. The driver still needs to pay attention to the road and is being monitored by an in-dash sensor, but it adds an extra bit of comfort to the horrors of gridlock.

The $1,700 option might be worth it to those who spend a lot of time behind the wheel traveling at very low speeds on the highway. During our tests, the system did a commendable job tracking vehicles, adjusting its acceleration, and braking during cut-ins and when other cars got out of the lane. There were no moments when the 330e sped up too quickly for comfort when the road opened up for us. Also, braking was done in a controlled way that was never a cause for concern.

BMW 330e next to road sitting on dirt
Roberto Baldwin/Digital Trends

Standard safety features include front collision warning, lane departure warning, and city collision mitigation and braking. The 2021 BMW 3 Series is an Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) Top Safety Pick. The 3 Series is also a five-star safety rating from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) but the 330e variant hasn’t been tested as of the time of this review’s publication. While we don’t anticipate the PHEV version of the vehicle to stray too far from the overall 3 Series rating, the extra weight of the battery and electric motor could be enough of a variable to affect the vehicle’s ratings.

On the warranty front, the automaker offers a four-year, 50,000-mile limited warranty, a 12-year unlimited mileage rust perforation limited warranty, and an 8-year/80,000-mile warranty on the battery.

How DT would configure this car

While the review vehicle was rear-wheel drive, we’d opt for the all-wheel-drive Xdrive version of the 330e for additional peace of mind in inclement climates. We’d also throw in the $1,700 driver assistance pro package for the hands-free traffic jam system, and the $1,400 dynamic handling package that includes adaptive M suspension, sports steering, and blue caliper sport brakes.

Our take

Outside of a few instances of jarring acceleration from a standstill, the 330e proves itself to be a vehicle worthy of the 3 Series legacy. If you’re not looking for the more powerful M models, it’s the 3 Series that belongs in your garage. Its combination of efficiency and midsized sedan sporty driving make it not so much a compromise, but a great transition vehicle for those looking for an electrified BMW experience, but who are not quite ready to pull the trigger on the all-electric BMW i4.

The comfortable interior includes all the luxury touches you’d expect from a German automaker. The infotainment system isn’t the latest from BMW, but it offers up an easy-to-navigate touchscreen that surfaces important information in multiple customizable home screens so what the driver is looking for is only a few taps away. Apple’s CarPlay support is standard, but Android Auto users are left out.

Efficiency might not be on par with offerings from Toyota or other automakers, but the 20 miles of EV-only range are part of a larger luxury package that makes the 2021 BMW 330e more than the sum of its parts.

Should you get one?

Yes. The BMW 330e is a fusion of what people love about BMW: German sports luxury combined with a plug-in hybrid drivetrain that will deliver better efficiency in nearly all driving environments.

The week in EV tech: From sky-high dreams to ground-level drama
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Welcome to Digital Trends’ weekly recap of the revolutionary technology powering, connecting, and now driving next-gen electric vehicles. 
Buckle up, folks — this week we’re taking off with a look at the futuristic dream of flying electric cars possibly gliding above U.S. roads sooner than you think. But before we get carried away, let’s bring it back down to the bumpy road of present-day realities.
Even if you’re mostly interested about the tech powering the electric vehicle (EV) revolution, it’s become increasingly hard to avoid the politics around it: You guessed it, we’re talking about this week’s public feud between Tesla CEO Elon Musk and U.S. President Donald Trump.
What does this have to do with EV tech? Well, quite a lot actually. For starters, the technology behind Tesla’s Autopilot and Full-Self Driving (FSD) modes may return in the crosshairs of regulators: Despite the names, these are still driver-assist features that require active driver supervision, and until Trump’s election, they had been under heavy scrutiny by safety regulators for several years.
Last year, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration  (NHTSA) launched an investigation into 2.4 million Tesla vehicles equipped with FSD. Big questions remain about the driver-assist system's performance under adverse, yet naturally-occurring conditions such as fog, sun glare, rain, and snow.
When Musk, who spent about $275 million to help elect Trump, was appointed to head a newly-created Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), it raised more than a few eyebrows about his power and influence over the regulators who are supposed to oversee traffic safety, and therefore Tesla.
It didn’t help that the Trump administration followed Musk’s recommendations and relaxed crash-reporting requirements put in place since 2021, while also relaxing rules to accelerate the deployment of fully-automated robotaxis.
The Trump/Musk clash takes place just as Tesla is due to launch its robotaxi pilot progam in Texas later this month. While Trump is now threatening to pull billions of dollars in government subsidies and contracts from Musk’s companies, it’s unclear whether he might pressure the Department of Transportation to again tighten the regulatory screws on Tesla. What is clear is that Trump has never been a fan of electric vehicles and is already trying to end federal subsidies on EV purchases and leases. And while he had made a big deal about buying a bright red Tesla Model S back in March, Trump now says he wants to sell it.
Back to the tech
Meanwhile, Tesla is still required to respond to information and data requests from NHTSA regarding the safety of its robotaxis by July 1. And ultimately, it should come down to the performance of the technology.
For Autopilot and FSD, Tesla has opted for less expensive navigational tech relying on multiple onboard cameras that feed AI machine-learning models. But especially for so-called adverse driving conditions, it’s the more expensive technology relying on a blend of pre-mapped roads, sensors, cameras, radar, and lidar (a laser-light radar) which has received the nod of regulators.
Waymo, the sole robotaxi service currently operating in the U.S., and Zoox, Amazon’s upcoming robotaxi service, both use that blend of navigational tech.
For its robotaxis, Tesla is said to have upped its game in terms of autonomous driving with its Hardware 4 (HW4) technology, which does include radar sensors and promises enhanced environmental perception.
Will that be enough for Tesla to convince regulators, catch up with Waymo, or compete effectively with Zoox?
We’ll have to wait and see.
Flying cars
In a recent edition, we noted that while consumer confidence about robotaxi technology is on the rise, most people also want more data before they hop into a self-driving vehicle.
What about flying taxis? According to a recent survey by Honeywell, nearly all U.S. airline fliers, or 98%, said they would consider using a so-called electric vertical take-off and landing vehicle, or eVTOL, as part of their travel journey.
But while the buzz around flying electric vehicles has mostly focused on air taxis— like Archer Aviation’s Midnight, expected to fly athletes around the 2028 LA Olympics, or Joby’s slick air taxi, backed by Toyota — one California startup is shooting for something a little more... driveable.
Meet Alef Aeronautics, a Bay Area company that wants to put the “car” back in “flying car.” This week, Alef announced it has received over 3,400 pre-orders for its electric flying vehicle, the Model A — and get this: it’s not a futuristic prototype gathering dust in a lab. Alef says production could begin by the end of 2025, or early next year.
On the ground, the Model A operates like a low-speed electric car, complete with hub motors in the wheels and—wait for it—a real steering wheel. You can legally drive it at up to 25 mph on public roads, parking it in a normal garage like any other EV. It’s refreshingly manual in an increasingly hands-free world.
But when it's time for lift off, the steering wheel takes a backseat. For vertical takeoff and flight, the Model A transforms into a drone-like aircraft. Its cabin rotates sideways to create lift, and eight electric rotors—controlled by a flight system and joysticks—take over. No pedals, no yoke, just a bit of joystick magic (or autopilot, if you prefer).
The Model A has already received the nod from regulators for test flights.
While the $300,000 price tag won’t fit everyone’s budget, the company is clearly betting on a future where you don’t have to choose between a car and a flying machine—you can have both.

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8 key things you need to know from Apple’s WWDC 2025 event
From a fresh look and updated names, to new features, more intelligence and live translation
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The WWDC 2025 keynote ran for just over an hour and a half. For those of you who don't fancy sitting through the whole presentation, we've pulled out the key things you need to know from the latest Apple event.

1. Welcome to the 26 club

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Tesla’s robotaxi service is almost here, but it’s not the car you want to see
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Tesla chief Elon Musk has said that the automaker is aiming to launch its robotaxi service on June 22, in Austin, Texas.

“Tentatively, June 22,” Musk said in a post on X on Tuesday, adding: “We are being super paranoid about safety, so the date could shift.”

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