Patent ID: 8487589

Claim:
A method for determining a start of a charging process to achieve a predetermined charging state of an energy storage device in a vehicle, the method comprising the steps of: ascertaining a first parameter that indicates whether a passenger is about to exit the vehicle; ascertaining a first time t 1 at which the charging process concludes at an earliest; displaying the first time t 1 , a time a first energy rate is present and a time a second energy rate is present, the second energy rate lower than the first energy rate, on a display device of the vehicle; receiving a user input that sets a second time t 2 at which the charging process is to have concluded at the latest and the second time t 2 ≧the first time t 1 ; ascertaining whether a third time t 3 at which the lowered second energy rate is present before the second time t 2 has been reached; and setting a start of the charging process in such a way that the third time t 3 lies within the charging process and the charging process concludes by the second time t 2 at the latest.