Tools · Warranty
Everyone covers the battery for eight years. Almost nobody tells you how much of it.
Eight years or 160,000 km is close to universal in Canada, which makes it useless for comparing one car against another. The figure that actually differs is buried further into the booklet: how much capacity the battery has to lose before the manufacturer owes you a repair. The floors published here run from 60% to 70%. On a 400 km car, that gap is 40 km of range you either can or cannot make a claim about.
| Make | Battery coverage | Capacity guaranteed | Worth knowing | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chevrolet | 8 yearsor 160,000 km | 60%The lowest floor found in any Canadian booklet read for this page, and 10 points below the industry norm. | GM transfers the remaining coverage to a second owner at no cost, which most private-sale buyers do not know to ask about. | GM Canada limited warranty and owner assistance bookletCanada · manufacturer |
| Kia | 8 yearsor 150,000 km | 70% | Kia’s Canadian warranty manual says 150,000 km for both the EV system and battery capacity. Kia Canada’s own marketing pages say 160,000 km. We have not been able to reconcile the two, so the booklet figure is shown — check the manual for your model year rather than trusting either number. | Kia Canada warranty manualCanada · manufacturer |
| Lucid | 8 yearsor 160,000 km | 70% | Stated as 100,000 miles on Lucid’s Canadian page; converted here. | Lucid Canada limited warrantyCanada · manufacturer |
| Tesla | 8 yearsVaries by model | 70% | 160,000 km on rear-drive Model 3 and Y, 192,000 on dual-motor, 240,000 on Model S, X and Cybertruck.The only make whose battery term depends on which version you bought — the same trim-level problem that makes heat pump status hard to publish. | Tesla Support Canada vehicle warrantyCanada · manufacturer |
| Toyota | 8 yearsor 160,000 km | 70% | Toyota also covers BEV-specific components — transaxle, inverter and converter — for the same 96 months and 160,000 km. | Toyota Canada new vehicle warrantyCanada · manufacturer |
| MINI | 8 yearsor 160,000 km | Not publishedCovered against defects in materials and workmanship. No guaranteed capacity floor is published, so gradual capacity loss has no stated threshold at which it becomes a warranty matter. | MINI Canada electric vehicle warrantyCanada · manufacturer | |
| Nissan | 8 yearsor 160,000 km | Counted in barsNine of twelve bars on the dashboard gauge rather than a percentage — a threshold you can read from the driver’s seat, but one that cannot be compared directly against a 70% figure. | The only make here that makes a recurring EV-specific check a condition of coverage. See the clauses below. | Nissan Canada LEAF warranty information bookletCanada · manufacturer |
So does skipping a service void it?
No, and that is not the useful answer. No booklet read for this page says a missed service cancels your coverage. What they say is narrower and harder to argue with: they will not pay for damage that the missed service caused.
The wording is where the difference lives, so it is quoted here rather than summarised.
Skipping maintenance
Chevrolet
“General Motors of Canada Company may, in its sole discretion, deny a warranty claim if a failure to perform scheduled maintenance is suspected to have resulted in the failure of a warranted part.”
Two words carry the weight. "Suspected" is a lower bar than proven, and "sole discretion" puts the first decision with GM rather than with an adjudicator. It does not say the warranty is void — it says this claim can be refused.
GM Canada limited warranty bookletKia
“Claims made during the warranty term will not qualify under the warranty if resulting from lack of maintenance rather than from defective material and/or workmanship.”
The test is causation, not attendance. A missed service does not cancel coverage on a part it had nothing to do with.
Kia Canada warranty manualNissan
“You are required to perform annual EV Battery Usage Report at intervals of 12 months, 24 months, 36 months, 48 months, 60 months, 72 months, and 84 months.”
This is the strongest maintenance condition found in any booklet read for this page, and it is EV-specific. The booklet adds that damage which "could have been avoided had these services been performed" is not covered. Only the first two reports are free.
Nissan Canada LEAF warranty bookletProving you did it
Chevrolet
“Receipts can be very important if a question arises as to whether a malfunction is caused by a lack of maintenance or is due to a defect in material or workmanship.”
The manufacturer is telling you how to win the argument it just reserved the right to start. Keep every invoice, including the ones from a shop that is not a dealer.
GM Canada limited warranty bookletWho may do the work
Chevrolet
“GM recommends having maintenance performed by an authorized GM dealership.”
Recommends. The booklet does not require it for routine maintenance, and the distinction between a recommendation and a condition is the whole question when a service desk implies otherwise.
GM Canada limited warranty bookletNissan
“Repairs performed by anyone other than a Nissan LEAF certified dealer.”
Listed among the things the warranty does not cover. This is about warranty repairs rather than routine maintenance, but it is a real limit and a stricter one than GM’s wording.
Nissan Canada LEAF warranty bookletVehicle data
Nissan
“You are also required to provide consent to give Nissan access to data stored on vehicle systems for the purpose of vehicle diagnosis and repair.”
Battery coverage is conditioned on letting the manufacturer read the car. The booklet says withholding consent is "likely to result in denial of warranty coverage". Worth knowing before you decide what your car shares.
Nissan Canada LEAF warranty bookletWhat actually happens when they say no
This is where Canadian advice goes wrong most often. Repair shops across the country state that the Competition Act stops a manufacturer from requiring dealer service to keep a warranty. The Competition Bureau’s own page on warranties does not say that. It covers misleading claims about a warranty and says nothing about who may service a car. Canada has no equivalent of the American Magnuson-Moss Act, so the reassuring version of this advice is not sourced where it says it is.
What Canada does have is CAMVAP — free, binding arbitration that covers disputes about defects and about how a manufacturer is applying or administering its new vehicle warranty. That is the “they told me it’s void” dispute, and a decision takes roughly 70 to 90 days rather than a lawsuit.
The catch is that it is voluntary, and the makes that stayed out are not a random sample. 7 of the 19 EV brands tracked here are not in it, including three of the best-known electric brands in the country.
In CAMVAP · 12
- Audi · Volkswagen Group Canada Inc.
- Chevrolet · General Motors of Canada Company
- Ford · Ford Motor Company of Canada, Limited
- Hyundai · Hyundai Auto Canada Corp.
- Jaguar · Jaguar Land Rover Canada ULC
- Kia · KIA Canada Inc.
- Lexus · Toyota Canada Inc.
- Lucid · Lucid Motors Canada ULC
- Mazda · Mazda Canada Inc.
- Nissan · Nissan Canada Inc.
- Toyota · Toyota Canada Inc.
- Volvo · Volvo Car Canada Limited
Not in CAMVAP · 7
- BMW
- GenesisHyundai Auto Canada Corp. is listed; Genesis Motors Canada is a separate entity and is not named. Confirm with CAMVAP before relying on it.
- Mercedes-Benz
- MINI
- Polestar
- Rivian
- Tesla
Not in the program does not mean no recourse — it means the recourse is provincial small claims court or a lawsuit, at your cost and on your time.
Participation read from CAMVAP participating manufacturers, which lists legal entities rather than badges.
What to do, in the order that matters
Keep every invoice, including from a shop that is not a dealer. GM’s own booklet is explicit that receipts decide the argument about whether a failure came from neglect or from a defect, and that argument is the one you are being set up for.
If you own a LEAF, do not skip the annual battery report. It is the one genuinely EV-specific service condition found anywhere in this exercise, and only the first two are free.
If a service desk tells you your battery coverage depends on a particular inspection, ask them to show you the sentence in the warranty booklet. Sometimes it is there — Nissan’s is. Often it is a recommendation being described as a requirement.
About these figures, and what is missing
7 makes are in the coverage table. The maintenance comparison on this site covers 19. The difference is not laziness — it is that a battery warranty is the most consequential number we publish, and every row here was read out of a Canadian manufacturer document rather than a summary of one. Where we could not get the booklet, the make is absent instead of estimated.
The CAMVAP list is complete for all 19, because that answer comes from one public source rather than 19.
Nothing here is legal advice, and a warranty booklet is a contract that varies by model year. Read yours. If you have a Canadian booklet for a make not listed, send it and we will add it with the source.
Related: how often each manufacturer wants the car serviced, which is where this question starts.