Why no S/H Leaf imports from Japan

I have seen some ads with Japanese buttons so there are some around.

0lddog wrote: »

So, secondhand Toyota & Nissan petrol cars come by the boat load from Japan

Why no Leafs ?

Is there some fundamental difference in ( for e.g. ) charging standards between Japan and Europe ?

I'd say the fundamental difference is the very strict emissions standards tests ICE cars are required to pass. The difficulty / expense in getting an older car to pass creates an export market for used cars.

EVs naturally don't have this problem, hence less pressure to replace an EV after a few years and a much smaller export market in used EVs.

ELM327 wrote: »

There are some, just that JDM cars are normally imported by motoring enthusiasts and these people won't have an interest in importing a used EV with extensive battery deg

There are many dealers who bring in Japanese imports, and they're largely normal small cars and MPVs. I think the problem is mainly their lack of familiarity with EVs, and it still being very much a niche thing.

FishOnABike wrote: »

I'd say the fundamental difference is the very strict emissions standards tests ICE cars are required to pass. The difficulty / expense in getting an older car to pass creates an export market for used cars.

I don't think the shaken is any stricter than our NCT in terms of emissions testing - it's just even more of a money racket over there as the majority of motorists go through third parties (mechanics, etc.) to do the test for them. Doing a "user shaken" (going to the test centre yourself) is very much an enthusiast/DIY mechanic niche there.

Round Cable wrote: »

I thought Japanese imports have dropped off a cliff in Ireland in the last 20 years. JDM cars can have different parts compared to those sold here, so regular dealers are unlikely to supply them if needed.

They're becoming more common again as hybrids and small petrol automatics are becoming more popular but largely non-existent on the used Irish market. It fluctuates with the Yen too, but that's fairly weak right now. Toyota Vitz (Yaris) and Nissan March (Micra) are still fairly common sights (but easy to miss if you don't look at the badges), and it seems at least a quarter of the taxis I see in Cork and Limerick now are JDM Prius Gen 3's. There are a few MPV options we don't get at all like the Estima Hybrid which I've seen a few of.

JDM cars direct Cahir bring in a good few hybrids and Golfs. He doesn't have a website but he has a page on facebook

Easier and cheaper to import from the UK?

*waits patiently for a Nismo L40*

The nismo S version is interesting

Some crowd in NZ apparently do it:
https://evsenhanced.com/products/nissan-instrument-cluster-tool/

Used Japanese imports are quite common there.

cros13 wrote: »

I'd love to see a few Nissan Note ePowers get imported though. They have sold very well in Japan and are all over the auction sites there.
Good gateway drug for a BEV.

Yeah was reading up on them. 2.7l/100km or 282mpg. I'd take that

physioman wrote: »

Yeah was reading up on them. 2.7l/100km or 282mpg. I'd take that

I think something's gone wrong with your calculations there - it's rated at 37.2 km/l, which is 2.69 l/100km or 105 MPG (imperial).

But that's based on the Japanese JC08 test cycle. If you think the NEDC was bullshît, it's got nothing on this! Maximum speed used in the test is 82 km/h. Granted, speed limits are generally lower in Japan, but largely flaunted.

On the same test cycle, the Gen 4 Prius gets 115 MPG, whereas the same car gets 62 MPG combined on the US EPA test (converted to imperial gallons in both cases). So at a guess I'd say the Note e-Power is somewhere around 55-60 MPG in reality, nothing magical.

kennethsmyth wrote: »

If you want a bit of fun down load google translate app to your phone and use the camera to read japanese and replace the words in your screen with the same font etc in english!. One of the coolest artificial reality apps I have seen. Just back from spain and used it on all the signs and menus etc. worked brilliantly.

You can even use it looking at that picture of the head unit to translate.

Sounds good but not as a permanent fix!

Mike9832 wrote: »

Think they are brillant myself

Electric motor ran on petrol

No charging/range crap but all that power/torque of electric

Would love one

I'm a bit more skeptical - you're reliant on that buffer, i.e. the traction battery, being there at all times. I bet you can only do that 0-100 km/h time once before a current discharge limit (or something similar) starts restricting power output to the wheels as the input to the battery (the ICE) cannot match the maximum power output of the motor (ICE only produces 58 kW max, and there will be losses in-between).

With series-parallel hybrids if you're really hooning it you could end up with reduced output from the traction battery (high battery temperature has an impact on this too) - but you still have most of the power available from the ICE directly to the wheels. There's more redundancy in the system, in a way. Though saying that I've never experienced a noticeable reduction in power output with my Prius, but it could potentially happen on some long ascent... or a track day :cool:

physioman wrote: »

Apologies your right. Just typed it into Google. 105mpg sounds right.

I did too : https://www.google.ie/search?client=opera&q=37.2+km%2Fl+in+mpg+imperial&sourceid=opera&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8