How to make charging stop at certain time

Physical timer on the charge outlet/circuit.
They make plug-in and in-line models.

 

If that’s a dedicated circuit you can install a timer on the breaker box.

 

I'm also on a TOU rate, so thanks for mentioning this. I have not checked to see what happens if I'm charging at 3 PM when I have it set for departure. I use a level 2 charger, so it charges in around 2 hours if empty. I charge whenever parked at home and I'm seldom less than 60% SOC so if I park it at 2:30 the car will still finish on time. That's a long way of saying that I've never gone out to check to see if it's charging at 3:05.

 

I think you can use an outdoor timer switch like this.




Or, if you want more precise control, you can use an outdoor smart plug like this. As long as it is rated 15A, it should work on Toyota OEM L1 EVSE.

 

It seems that you are saying that it is somehow charging TOO MUCH.
I don't understand that.
It is only a problem if the charging current costs you MORE than an equivalent amount of gas.
And if it doesn't happen often and the duration isn't very long, then it seems that you might be making a mountain out of an ant hill.

 

With a 4x rate multiplier I think I'd want a proper timer on the supply circuit rather than trusting that the car (or the next car etc) had the feature built in.

But if we are still playing feature wishes, I can't believe they didn't make the charging system coherent for block heaters- charge the battery first, then divert the power to the block heater so you don't have to use two cords to plug the car in twice.

 

What block heater are you talking about? Engine block heater? Has there been any car that had an integrated engine block heater system?

 

It's an option (supported by Toyota-made and -sold parts) on (afaik) every single Toyota that is offered with a PHEV powertrain. Granted, it's not a popular option but I think they had a chance to set the standard for how this stuff should interact, and I don't they didn't did very well.

 

The engine block heater is not a factory option in the USA at least not in the lower 48 states, maybe in Alaska? I believe it is an option for a Canadian market. I tried to install one on my 2017 PP at my dealer, but that was not even a dealer-installed option then, just a separate installation. In the end, I found out most people living in colder climate did not find it necessary to have the engine block heater installed, so I did not get one.

 

Yeah, back in my college days my first used car I purchased had a dangling AC cord out from a grille. I had no idea what that cord was used for then. I never plugged it into anything. Never had a problem staring that car (4 cylinder gas engine Chevy Vega) at -40°F temperature. Supposedly, for PP in a colder climate, the EBH will help the engine to warm up quickly to give more cabin heat when the heat pump does not work and save gas somewhat. But I did not think it would be cost-effective in our region with a higher electricity rate, so I did not install one.

 

First an acknowledgement, you are correct- the necessity of block heaters has greatly dwindled with the advent of electronic fuel injection.

Next, I've read many accounts of significant efforts made by Prius owners to avoid, minimize, or diminish the warm-up cycle of the gas engine.

I think it might be better to attack it the other way: preheat it on cheap grid electricity so you don't have to burn as much gas to hit the target.

This is still inconvenient in a regular hybrid, the benefit is a bit thin compared to the work of plugging in.

Enter the PHEV! You're going to plug it in anyway, right?

So why not include a "thru" tap on the charger inlet such that a block heater could be connected to it? Ideally it would be managed by the car's charger logic, timed and sequenced appropriately and so forth.

I don't imagine that every owner would gain a real benefit from a grid preheated block, but I'm certain some would. I'd love to see real data on that.

 

Yeah, I follow your logic. It would be nice if Toyota figures out such an option to be built in. I would even suggest having an onboard 12v battery charger integrated into the charge session as long as Toyota designs PP with a separate 12v battery that does not get charged while being plugged in for the traction battery charging.

That being said, my point was that, currently, Toyota does not offer an EBH option on PP at least in the lower 48 states. Also, for our region, the grid power costs more than gas, so I am not so sure using more electricity will save any money by avoiding the initial engine warm-up cycle.

Moreover, I think the EBH is less effective to prevent or shorten the engine warm-up cycle in PHEV like PP compared to a regular hybrid. In my experience, if I charge my PP in a dead of winter and start the car, as long as I have set the heater to be OFF, the engine will not start immediately unlike the regular Prius. Only if I turn on the defroster or turn on the heater when the ambient temp is below 14F, then the engine will fire up. I can have the car start on default EV mode with the heater set to OFF position, and if I don't use the defroster, I can start driving the car in EV mode even at a temperature below 14F. In this scenario, EBH would serve no function, the engine would be start cooling as soon as I unplug EBH and drive off on EV mode. When the engine fire-up is called for either for traction or heat a few miles down a road, it is already cold.