Another thought, If you can use a plug in heater and get some air circulation over the batteries too, and insulate them from the outside, then there is some nice synergy of thermal mass and warm batteries.
EDIT AGAIN: probably not efficient to bring THAT much mass up to temperature every morning though.
Yah, automatic drip looks good w/a bit of reserve coolant and some fluid circulators
And you definately want the thermos approach when not driving for max efficiency
the coffe pot is pretty easy to find, there are these things too:
