How to Import an Electric Vehicle

We’ve been asked over the years about EV car imports and this blog is a bit of a ‘how to’ about the process. There are a number of avenues you can take with importing a vehicle from overseas – either through a bulk buy organisation where they take care of everything or by working with an import company that can guide and assist with the process. 

The laws about ‘Grey Imports’ are changing and a new set of regulations will be in place by mid next year. Interim measures were introduced in December 2019. You can read the full guide for importing on the government website here. The Australian Automotive Dealers Association is not happy about so called ‘grey imports’ with the CEO David Blackhall stating that expanding the number of used cars coming into Australia “is not in the public interest and we will be seeking assurances that the Specialist and Enthusiast Vehicle scheme (SEVs) does not allow used-car imports to come in via a backdoor channel”. Well of course they want to protect their patch from competition but fortunately for EV enthusiasts the import of electric vehicles not currently on sale in Australia will meet the new criteria.

As everyone knows there are very limited numbers of EVs on sale here so some of the less expensive models we see overseas (new or secondhand) will enable many to buy an EV at far less cost than the local exorbitant prices.

We’re fortunate to have some videos from Shane and Karen, from EV4ME, who went through the import journey and we feature their story here. Yes there’s some paperwork and a bit of digging around but it can be done with patience and determination. The vehicle they have opted for is a Nissan LEAF ZE1 with the 62kWh battery (not currently sold by Nissan Australia) that they bid for at a Japanese auction (through their auction agent). The vehicle had 12,000kms on the clock and is the trim level X LEAF that includes Pro-Pilot (Nissan’s version of Tesla’s auto-pilot). They picked it up for $46k – all costs included such as agent fees, compliance, shipping etc. The brand new equivalent vehicle when (if) it becomes available in Australia will probably sell for around $65k. Quite the savings for a car with less than a year’s mileage.

The following videos describe the import process. As you can see they are parts 3, 4 and 5. If you want to see parts 1 & 2 of Shane and Karen’s EV story you can find them on Youtube under EV4ME. Parts 1 and 2 describe their journey in deciding whether an EV was for them. They traveled to NZ in 2019 and rented an EV camper van for five days to try it out. Click here for Part 1 and click here for Part 2.

For Shane and Karen’s most current updates you can check them out on Twitter at @EV4ME2.

Below are a list of links mentioned in the videos for Bulk EV Buys and vehicle (including EVs) Import Agents:

Bulk EV Buys
Good Car Company

Vehicle Import Agents
Prestige Motorsport (Shane & Karen’s pick)
J-Spec Imports
Ironchef Imports