Preconditioning question

Urbanengineer said:

Are you certain of this?

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Yes. When cold-soaked (like sitting outside overnight at near- or below-freezing temperatures), the SE will reduce available power output until you drive it enough to warm the batteries. People have reported that their SEs reduce power even when they set the departure time and enable the "climatize" feature. Same results whether on battery power or plugged in.

I'm fairly certain this is why the MINI app refers to this feature as "Climate Timer" or "Climate Control" - because it affects the "cabin climate" and is not a "preconditioning" for the batteries. The older app called it "Climatize", but the new one is much more clear that this is a "climate control" function.

Urbanengineer said:

The heat pump system typically heats the cabin through battery waste heat. It would seem silly if it didn't precon the battery too!

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I don't disagree. I assume there were some engineering challenges as part of retrofitting the EV drivetrain into a petrol chassis which prevented this. Since the batteries are stuffed in the exhaust tunnel and under the rear seats, they do get some insulation/benefit from the cabin temperature being set for human-preferred temperatures.