In combination with going alternatorless, I'm also looking to add a block heater and possibly battery warmer. This poses a problem when I plug in at night. I want the charger to start running immediately, but I do not want the block heater and battery warmer to run until a couple hours before I leave. Now, I could use two extension cords, one on a timer and one not on a timer, but I'm not real fond of that idea. The alternative is to use a 12V powered AC timer. However, the ones I've seen for sale are all $60+, and that is a bit much.
My initial thought was do make an arduino project out of it. Then, thankfully I was in contact with my charger supplier (also an EV owner) and gave me this link:
12 Volt Programmable Timer Switch - Electronics
The article suggests you can use a programmable thermostat (the ones that control your household furnace) as a timer. I'm not sure if the relay in the themostat is beefy enough to handle a block heater, but you can always add another beefy relay to the system that can handle it. Seeing as how you can pick a programmable thermostat up off ebay for just about the cost of shipping, this looks like a great alternative.
Does anyone have any other ideas?