[Quaze22]

I live in Canada so I'm a bit concerned about what happens when the system demands ICE power, usually under harder acceleration, from a stone cold engine. Is there any system in place bringing warmth to the oil, at least, so it flows quickly when it's suddenly needed? How well protected is the engine from damage when it's going from cold to hard acceleration on a winter's morning?

[januza]

Originally Posted by Quaze22

I live in Canada so I'm a bit concerned about what happens when the system demands ICE power, usually under harder acceleration, from a stone cold engine. Is there any system in place bringing warmth to the oil, at least, so it flows quickly when it's suddenly needed? How well protected is the engine from damage when it's going from cold to hard acceleration on a winter's morning?

My tune told me that software is programmed so you can't just max rev the car when the engine is cold. It has built in protection and this engine has reinforced interior mechanics compared to the regular B58 to protect the engine during cold starts. I wouldn't worry about it BMW has considered this for sure. We have a Norwegian member using the car in -30 degrees Celsius who has never had any issues.

[xvm_45e]

Originally Posted by januza

My tune told me that software is programmed so you can't just max rev the car when the engine is cold.

Try flooring it in Sport mode when the engine is cold, you will notice rightaway that the experience is not very impressive 🙂. As long as the engine is not at optimal operating temperature you will not get maximum performance (which is good!)

[Quaze22]

Originally Posted by januza

My tune told me that software is programmed so you can't just max rev the car when the engine is cold. It has built in protection and this engine has reinforced interior mechanics compared to the regular B58 to protect the engine during cold starts. I wouldn't worry about it BMW has considered this for sure. We have a Norwegian member using the car in -30 degrees Celsius who has never had any issues.

Thanks—I figured I could trust German engineers to get it right, but good to know!

[biterror]

When it's cold (-15 C or below), the 45e will use ICE all the time or until the battery warms up. I think it uses the electric motor to assist the ICE (at least the charge level is dropping although the ICE is running). Some people have installed a heater for the ICE to avoid cold starts in winter. Kind of stupid that the car can't preheat the engine and the battery even when plugged in.

[Wait What?]

Originally Posted by biterror

When it's cold (-15 C or below), the 45e will use ICE all the time or until the battery warms up. I think it uses the electric motor to assist the ICE (at least the charge level is dropping although the ICE is running). Some people have installed a heater for the ICE to avoid cold starts in winter. Kind of stupid that the car can't preheat the engine and the battery even when plugged in.

What if you precondition the 45e while it is plugged in? Wouldn't that preheat the EV battery too given that it is powering the a/c?

[jad03060]

The act of charging or draining a battery will warm it, but unlike some EVs, the X5 does not have active heating of its batteries. That is a more common thing in pure EVs than PHEVs.

So, ideally, you might want to delay charging by using the time-slot function in iDrive, so that the batteries were just topped off prior to your intended departure time to gain the maximum heating of them passively. Also note that BMW did some work to insulate things to hold onto heat, so you would have that available longer than in a more conventional setup. The batteries are liquid cooled, a thing some brands still don't utilize to their battery's detriment.

If you park in a garage, it may not make much of a difference, depending on how warm the garage is, as the batteries may already be closer to their sweet spot.

Keep in mind that the battery packs have a lot of mass, so actively heating them would take a substantial amount of power. On the i3, it has about a 1Kw electric heater for the batteries, and can run for as much as 3.5-hours prior to your set departure time to give them enough time (and power) to achieve that warmth. Given you had no ICE backup, maximizing your battery range was more of a need than on a PHEV. If you insulated the battery packs, that would make it harder to remove heat as you'd lose some of the radiator effect, and need to do all of it via the liquid cooling. The i3's battery compartment is one big box...it's four separate sections on the X5, so that would mean four different heating sections, and separate sensors to manage things...extra complication, cost, and reliability issues that probably aren't very cost-effective.

[allinon72]

In the owners manual, BMW doesn't even recommend you warm a normal engine in the morning. Get in the car and go. They put the RPM limiter in place for this reason, so the engine is not damaged when cold and put under load. I don't think this is something you have to worry about or even consider. Drive the car as normal.

[Wait What?]

Originally Posted by jad03060

The act of charging or draining a battery will warm it, but unlike some EVs, the X5 does not have active heating of its batteries. That is a more common thing in pure EVs than PHEVs.

So, ideally, you might want to delay charging by using the time-slot function in iDrive, so that the batteries were just topped off prior to your intended departure time to gain the maximum heating of them passively. Also note that BMW did some work to insulate things to hold onto heat, so you would have that available longer than in a more conventional setup. The batteries are liquid cooled, a thing some brands still don't utilize to their battery's detriment.

If you park in a garage, it may not make much of a difference, depending on how warm the garage is, as the batteries may already be closer to their sweet spot.

Keep in mind that the battery packs have a lot of mass, so actively heating them would take a substantial amount of power. On the i3, it has about a 1Kw electric heater for the batteries, and can run for as much as 3.5-hours prior to your set departure time to give them enough time (and power) to achieve that warmth. Given you had no ICE backup, maximizing your battery range was more of a need than on a PHEV. If you insulated the battery packs, that would make it harder to remove heat as you'd lose some of the radiator effect, and need to do all of it via the liquid cooling. The i3's battery compartment is one big box...it's four separate sections on the X5, so that would mean four different heating sections, and separate sensors to manage things...extra complication, cost, and reliability issues that probably aren't very cost-effective.

Thank you! Let me reiterate how much I enjoy reading your posts on anything that is even remotely related to electricity: they are so thorough and so clear! I always learn something new from you and I'm grateful for that.

[biterror]

Originally Posted by Wait What?

What if you precondition the 45e while it is plugged in? Wouldn't that preheat the EV battery too given that it is powering the a/c?

Maybe a little, but I don't think it has made any difference in cold weather like -30 C.