Im in the process of buying the Volt, and am looking at different plans Pacific Gas & Electric has to offer, one of which is a time-of-use.
Is it possible to tell the volt to start charging at 8pm and stop when full or at 8am which ever comes first (when using the v110 charger)?

Yes on the delayed charge

Do a search, there are a lot of good threads about the rates in California in what the plans offer

Yes on the delayed charge

Do a search, there are a lot of good threads about the rates in California in what the plans offer

Thanks! after posting it occur to me to search for the Volt's user's manual. I found the 2011 PDF version and I'm reading it now. I assume it generally also applies to the 2012..
I have an old time-of-use PG&G rate which is really good (E-7) that is no longer available and if I switch to any of the other rate plan Ill never be able to go back to E7, so I need to weigh this carefully.. PG&E has a great on-line calculator which is very helpful..

A

You have a choice of setting the start time or the end time. Start time is good when it warm, for winter I switched to end time so the charge would finish right before it's time to leave. Charging the battery does make it warmer, so that way you get the benefit of warm batteries without having to spend extra energy warming them in the middle of the night, only to have to warm them again as you drive off. It might even make your winter range a tiny bit longer, maybe not by much, but every little bit helps...

Plus if you are using 120V, the pre-heat that warms the batteries and the car uses more than the wall provides, so your range will go down a bit unless you wait for the charging that starts when you pre-heat to finish. By using end time, you won't need as much energy to pre-heat the battery, it will still be warm from charging, so it will charge less.

This will all be crystal once you have your car! Good Luck!

2012:
http://www.chevrolet.com/assets/pdf/owners/manuals/2012/2k12volt.pdf

Never, ever drop E7! It's the best for solar AND for EV's...

2012:
http://www.chevrolet.com/assets/pdf/owners/manuals/2012/2k12volt.pdf

Never, ever drop E7! It's the best for solar AND for EV's...

Thanks for the manual pointer..
I did used the PG&E calculator and it shows that E-9B would be better. here's the graph they generated..
It shows that E7 is the worst combo..


https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-ZlBNn39KbfQ/T26QLeeXKII/AAAAAAAACDw/dT2rfqNFkME/s1024/PG%2526E%2520rates.JPG

E9B is hard to beat but the very big question is whether you can cost effectively put a separate meter in. E7 is incredible if you have a PV system. Otherwise maybe not so much.

The major advantage of E7 is the its peak hours are noon to 6pm.. which means I can start charging at 6pm and not wait till midnight..