Moving from US to France - Import US version or (painfully) wait for EU

[NigelM]

1. Note the costs of shipping there and back (not cheap!); and shipping across the Atlantic may take weeks each way not to mention almost 20% sales tax and 10% import duty. Duties and taxes might be "avoided" if you imported it on a temporary basis although if you kept it longer than 6 months with foreign plates it would also be illegal and the foreign plates are easy to spot. Register it in France and there is a mountain of paperwork and French bureaucracy plus changes required to the car. (I imported a Toyota from Belgium to France once, it was a PITA and took weeks!)

2. Do consider the connectivity functions, will they even work in France? Worth checking if Tesla is installing tri-band hardware or different GSM standards; you could find yourself with a US car in France that has no functioning nav system, internet radio, sat radio etc. (Or vice versa, you bring an EU spec car to the US and nothing works here).

3. Warranty issues and service issues may arise, although I'd imagine Tesla will be cool in your situation.

Overall, charging is probably going to be the least of your concerns.

 

[Tempus]

i did notice when i was going through the finalize screens on the tesla site, that there was an FAQ question about importing your US car into europe. The answer they gave was basically - for some countries you can do it, for others you can't. I'd suggest asking Tesla whether they would even support that...

 

[jkirkebo]

3 phase to the house, transformator to convert to one phase inside. That's how my home is, I have 400V/63A 3-phase coming in to my house, I could easily run a thick wite from the transformator to a HPC (at 80A 240V one phase)

You can't convert three phase to single phase by a transformator. You either need a motor-generator set or a rectifier and a big inverter. Either is not very cheap or small.

 

[jcstp]

I suggest to lease an european Model S for 2 years in France!
Shipping your us car with battery included is not advised I think. I think I read somewhere Tesla will import cars and batteries sepparatly! I guess this must have a reason!
3-phase charging will let you enjoy the car more when in europe

for leasing, check atlon, or tesla
Qui sommes-nous ?

 

[doug]

Yeah, I think that's the bottom line. Lease something while you're in France and wait to buy your US spec Model S for when you return. If all goes well with the production ramp-up, the order to delivery time shouldn't be too long. You could even place your order a few months prior to your return.

If the EU spec Model S isn't yet ready when you go to France, c'est la vie. Lease a different EV.

 

[widodh]

Lease a different EV.

Like a Zoe!

I indeed think it's the best decision. You'll get a better Model S anyway, since even more bugs will be fixed.

 

[unclfuzzy]

If the timing works out that you will have the first / only Model S in Europe, then you should definitely go for it. If charging or registration becomes an issue, I guarantee you will find someone willing to put up with or pay to resolve them in order to get a Model S six months earlier than they could by ordering one. You'll probably make a tidy little profit too.