Yeah, Peltier confirmed. I found it from the technical training documents located here in the Body document:
https://g05.bimmerpost.com/forums/sh....php?t=1563063
And yeah, I’m speculating on what occurred based solely on my knowledge of Peltier devices and what he described had happened.
A malfunctioning device is the only explanation I can come up with, coupled with what is a gigantic heat sink.
Even with BMW knowing about the potential for metallic heat sinks (i.e., metallic cups), that alone wouldn’t have been enough to cause what happened. They wouldn’t design it like that I’m sure and if they did they would likely place a prominent warning sticker near the cupholder: no metal cups.