Each year, the Green Car Journal selects its Green Car of the Year. The finalists for the 2017 Green Car of the Year were recently announced. Leading the group, both alphabetically and in our hearts, is the 2017 BMW 330e iPerformance.
The rest of the field incudes one electric car, the 2017 Chevrolet Bolt, and three other plug-in hybrids: the Chrysler Pacifica, Kia Optima, and Toyota Prius Prime.
"This year's Green Car of the Year® finalists clearly represent the momentum that electrification is experiencing in the auto industry," said Ron Cogan, Editor and Publisher of Green Car Journal and GreenCarJournal.com. "Whether it's all-electric, hybrid, plug-in hybrid, or a combination of these powertrains plus conventional gasoline engines within a model line, electrification is now considered by most automakers an essential technology for current and future high-efficiency models."
Being a 3 Series Sedan, the BMW 330e starts off with a great pedigree as one in a long line of outstanding sports sedans. The two-liter turbocharged inline four-cylinder is a good engine but when you add an electric motor in between it and the transmission, the power totals out at 248 horsepower and 310 pound-feet of torque, which is enough to push the car from zero to 60 in 5.9 seconds. Electric-only mileage is around 14 miles or so. The combined MPGe is 71, which doesn’t mean you will get 71 miles per gallon, but you will get better fuel mileage than a normal 330i.
The Green Car of the Year judging panel comprises experts in clean energy. Auto enthusiasts are represented by noted car collector Jay Leno. Other members of the panel include Jean-Michel Cousteau, President of Ocean Futures Society; Matt Petersen, Board Member of Global Green USA; Dr. Alan Lloyd, President Emeritus of the International Council on Clean Transportation; Mindy Lubber, President of CERES; and Kateri Callahan, President of the Alliance to Save Energy.
Green Car Journal editors narrowed the list of cars using all fuels and technologies down to the final five finalists based on considerations that included performance characteristics, efficiency, affordability, newness, and overall environmental achievement. Finalists must be available at dealers by January 1, 2017 and produced in numbers that ensure they have the potential to positively impact the environment.
BMW is not new to this award. The BMW i3 was named Green Car of the Year for 2015. The BMW 330d was a finalist in 2009 and the BMW 328d made the final five in 2014.
The winner of the 2017 Green Car of the Year award will be announced during Automobility LA on November 17. Automobility LA is the new name for the four days leading up to the Los Angeles Auto Show that used to be simply called “press days.”
It will be difficult for the BMW 330e plug in hybrid to beat out an all-electric car and the other hybrids, but regardless of which of the five cars becomes the 2017 Green Car of the Year, the BMW wins the 2017 green car we’d most like to drive on a twisty road award.—Scott Blazey
[Photos courtesy of BMW AG.]
