Import used 2011 Leaf from US to Canada

[tivollix]

I have a 2011 without the winter package and it did fine this winter.
Just use it daily if temperature drops below -20C, it will keep the battery warm (-10C).

[Berlino]

Not sure why, but there are very few used Leafs available locally

I don't think a sole LEAF has come off lease yet in Canada. In the USA, you can lease for two years and get the full government rebate, but I think most Canadian leases are for four years in order to qualify for the full provincial rebate in Ontario or in Quebec.

[cgaydos]

Thanks for the tip. I didn't realize that option was not on all SL/SV's.

Thanks

Dave

Only for 2011.

[cgaydos]

I have a 2011 without the winter package and it did fine this winter.
Just use it daily if temperature drops below -20C, it will keep the battery warm (-10C).

We have two LEAFs, one with the CW package and one without, and live in a cold weather zone. Yes, the non-CW can work, but the CW version is much preferred.

[jclemens]

There is an imported Leaf for sale in the GTA, not being sold by a dealership. I helped him get DRLs working for the importing inspection.
http://www.autotrader.ca/a/Nissan/LEAF/ ... po=ShowCPO" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

no cold weather package and no carwings unfortunately. (until someone posts how to fix the sim/TCU)

[evken]

Have been driving US 2011 in Vancouver for 10 months with no problems. I do not have the cold wheather package and had no problems even at -10. It was imported by a small dealership in Victoria.

[djwhite]

Hi all

I eventually did import one and thought i would answer some of my own questions for the board.

1) Warranty- My understanding is as long as the car had been registered in the US for 6 months, this is not an issue

Answer:
Have not been to a local dealer yet, so still need to confirm everything was transferred. Supposed to be fine though according to the Nissan US dealer.

2) Wings - Don't appear to work but not a major issue for me

Answer:
There is an opensource replacement for car wings called the open vehicle montiroing system. The hardware is about $100 and you an get data sim cards for just a few dollars a month. They are in the process of adding Leaf support. Bought one and hope to be playing with it soon. The advantage is you are not tied to Nissan's server and the Tesla owners club offers the use of a server for free. More info at

http://openvehicles.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

3) Metric guages - Apparently guages can be switched easily

Answer:
Took about 2 minutes to figure out how to switch them over.

4) Approved List for Import (Transport Canada) - I believe it is permissible assuming the running lights get reprogrammed to on. Must this be done at the dealer or is just a fuse. What cost

Answer:
Bought a really nice Philips kit with a smart relay that is supposed to figure out when the engine is on and turn on the lights. Also has a tap you hook up to a regular light which will then shut off the lights when the regular lights are on (Canadian requirement). Turns out whatever mechanism the smart relay uses to detect that the car is on (AC noise ?? ) doesn't work on an electric car. Anyway, was able to figure out something using a normal relay and directions on this form. Cost me about $100 and a full day of running around, but managed.

5) Maps - Is Canada included in the US version ?

Answer:
They are there, but not very usefull. Absolutely no chargers availalble according to the maps (not true) and maps years out of date. Oh well, thank goodness for google maps.

6) Dealers - Do they typically know what paperwork is required. I assume I would need to pay cash No ?

Answer:
The dealer I dealt with had not done it before, but was keen and did what was needed (recall clearance letter sent to RIV, title sent to US border). Biggest hangup was coordinating the shipping to a border location where I could drive it home from.

Found this blog that basically mirrored my experience.

http://importingacarintocanada.blogspot.ca/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The RIV website also has some very usefull infromation.

All in all it went very smoothly and I'm the proud owner of a 2011 Nissan Leaf SV. The only hiccups were that the daytime running light mod was a litte more complex than I figured and I needed an extra mechanical inspection for Quebec ($90) above and beyond the RIV inspection. Also, Quebec taxes the import fees (doh).

Btw, so far we are loving the car.

Thanks all

Dave

[cgaydos]

Glad it worked out for you. Regarding:

5) Maps - Is Canada included in the US version ?

Answer:
They are there, but not very usefull. Absolutely no chargers availalble according to the maps (not true) and maps years out of date. Oh well, thank goodness for google maps.

So you need Carwings to get the charger updates. The way it works is that when the car is first connected to Carwings it gets info on local charging stations (maybe a 50 mile radius?) and then every subsequent connection to Carwings updates the local charge station data. You have the option in the map to scroll to a different location and get the charging stations for that area, but again Carwings required.

Honestly I find plugshare to be a superior source of information as it is somewhat more complete, but I do like being able to pick a charging station as a destination and let the navigation direct me there.

Although you have an opensource alternative to Carwings you might still ask the dealer to set you up for Carwings (I suspect all you need is a SIM card from a Canadian GSM carrier).

As far as the Navigation maps, they come from a DVD that can be replace for a price from Nissan. This is pretty common for all factory-installed nav systems. If you got a 2011 then the maps may be up to 4 years out of date. 8 or 10 years ago this was a real pain if you used your nav system to find businesses or seek out local retail ... often we'd get directed to a restaurant that was no longer in business. These days with the prevalence of smart-phone apps such as Google Maps with full navigation features having a current nav disk in your car isn't as important.

[abasile]

I can't speak to the various import issues, but if you are looking at a 2011 (per the original post) make sure you get the CW (cold weather) version that was made available toward the end of the model year. It has heated seats, steering wheel, and mirrors plus a battery heater for extreme cold.

+1. For Montreal, the most important part of the Cold Weather package would be the battery heater to prevent the Li-ion battery from freezing at -20 C. That could be fatal! The battery heater is just for protection at very low temperatures, not for improved performance.

[djwhite]

I can't speak to the various import issues, but if you are looking at a 2011 (per the original post) make sure you get the CW (cold weather) version that was made available toward the end of the model year. It has heated seats, steering wheel, and mirrors plus a battery heater for extreme cold.

+1. For Montreal, the most important part of the Cold Weather package would be the battery heater to prevent the Li-ion battery from freezing at -20 C. That could be fatal! The battery heater is just for protection at very low temperatures, not for improved performance.

Actually, my 2011 does not have the winter package, so it's something we will need to be carefull with. I will be parking it in a heated garage overnight so the only concerning scenario will be work through the day. We may often get wind chils of -20 but not often throught the day in absolute degrees. Short durations I'm hoping we will be fine due to the mass and insulaltion of the battery pack.

I actually went looking for stories of frozen batteries and only heard of one anectodal through a local Nissan sales guy who was trying to convince me to buy a new one. We'll see .

Dave