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Moving from California to Ireland ... how to keep my model S

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Hi,


I have been a happy Tesla owner since April 2013. My family and I are moving from the US (California) to Ireland in the next couple months and one of the first things we thought of when we decided to move (a week ago) was how we could bring the Tesla to Ireland!


Unfortunately, the steering wheel is on the wrong side of the car and there are probably some charging / software issues we'd need to resolve.


Can anyone please put me in contact with anyone who could help work with me through a deal where we either convert our existing Tesla or trade in / exchange for a IE/UK compliant version? We would be driving the car around Ireland and showing it off / marketing it for Tesla starting early next year :).


Thank you!


Brian Sinay
 
Steering wheel location, charging port, G3 connectivity, navigation maps, headlights pointing the wrong way, and whatever else are probably prohibiting any "conversion". Even if it was possible, the monetary outlay would be huge. better sell your California version.
 
Steering wheel location, charging port, G3 connectivity, navigation maps, headlights pointing the wrong way, and whatever else are probably prohibiting any "conversion". Even if it was possible, the monetary outlay would be huge. better sell your California version.

Steering wheel side is not a legal issue. Headlights would need a conversion, but that's not a big deal and is a relatively common thing. (My dad was in the RAF, our first car was a used left-hand drive Polski-Fiat bought in Germany, and my dad had to have headlight conversions on two different cars.)

Charging port shouldn't be an issue, though charging itself might be.

The big deal is that, as far as I am aware, Tesla doesn't support out-of-zone cars.
 
Tesla's Supercharger map shows stations in Ireland starting some time in 2015. I assume that means there will be at least one Service Center by that time. So at least you are likely to have service support in Ireland sometime next year. But you could be many months with no local service, so that would be a risk.

I would think charging port incompatibility would be a problem.

You don't say how long you will be in Ireland. I would think it would make more sense to sell your S in the US and buy another one in the UK, then take it to Ireland. Order now! :)
 
The changes required (mainly lights) are not insurmountable but you might find your limited charging options quickly become a PITB. I've had LHD vehicles in the UK and Ireland in the past and the novelty of dealing with toll booths you can't reach, and parking garage ticket machines you can't reach, quickly became very annoying.

Bear in mind that there's a limit to how long you can keep an out-of-country car there without registering it - IIRC it's one year- and that insurance is mandatory (which might prove cumbersome also).