For those who don't know, I'm in Florida and Hyundai is not selling the Kona Electric here or anywhere close to here and I was wondering if they were able to work on my car in case that something breaks. Talked to the manager and he told me that their master mechanic is being sent to training and very soon, they will be able to work on the electric Kona.. He also took a look at my Kona and asked a bunch of questions.. They also have free EV chargers which are not listed on Plugshare but are on and working. He said that they will list them on plugshare when they start selling electric cars. This means that there will be little competition when trying to get a free charge close to my home.. The Hyundai dealer is only about 3 miles from my house.. Already tested the charger on my car and it charged fine.
That's great to hear. I have not yet checked with my closest dealer yet, but what you found goves me hope there will not be any issue should we need service. Tim
You may find that your local dealer also has a free charger already.. Looks like they won't list them until they start selling plug in vehicles..
That’s great to hear! I’m in NC and had to purchase our Kona from College Park, MD. Might need to swing by our local dealership to see if they have any plans to train their techs in the near future, but hearing that other non-Zero Emission states are gearing up to sell/service the Kona EV gives me hope that NC will do the same soon! 2019 Kona EV Ultimate, Ultra Black w/Pebble Blue interior
I am in central Virginia, and interested in the new Soul EV. I will have to purchase one elsewhere (probably Maryland). I checked with my local Kia dealer, and the manager told me that Kia had designated this as a "green area", and therefore, all their techs are being trained in servicing EVs.
I have been by that dealership, but for us it was only 30 minutes away. They mentioned they had sold a lot that went out of state. I guess the question is, unless something is going wrong, what service is actually needed? Tire rotation, and top off the windshield fluid. What else?
Changing the air filter in the cabin. From what I hear, you can do this yourself so for regular maintenance, even non-specialized mechanics can still perform the very little maintenance that the kona requires.
I agree. The regular maintenance I can handle, no problem. My concern is if something goes wrong that I can’t handle and need to take it to a dealership (e.g., electric, recall, etc.). We weighed this into our decision when we bought the car and we figured that the chances of something wrong that needed a dealership were pretty slim. Almost 2,000 miles since early August and couldn’t be happier with the purchase! 2019 Kona EV Ultimate, Ultra Black w/Pebble Blue interior
Anybody know if K&N makes a cabin filter for the Kona EV? Is the cabin filter the same in the non-EV Kona? 2019 Kona EV Ultimate, Ultra Black w/Pebble Blue interior
The worry is not routine maintenance. What if one of the EV specific components go bad like Inverter, on-board charger, electric motor etc...?
I would think them to be the same since it has to do with the AC and not the engine. But I don't know for sure.
So, I checked with my local dealer to see if/when they might look to get their techs factory trained to service my Kona EV and here is the response I received: “The real difficulty is warranty work - we cannot perform warranty related repairs. Out technicians are already trained in the systems as we are able to perform warranty covered repairs and maintenance on the Hybrid Ionic, Hybrid Sonata, Plug In Hybrid Mitsubishi Outlander, and the Plug In Hybrid Chrysler Pacifica. In fact there are charging stations just in front of and behind the Hyundai / Mitsubishi service entry. We of course can do tire rotations, wiper blade replacement and similar general use items. I am waiting for my service manager to let me know if we could perform repairs on areas like power windows, air conditioner, and other parts that are not power train. I understand your frustration, and as we see it as a loss of both sales and service revenue we support your wish that Hyundai let all States repair the vehicles.” I’ve not replied yet, but I’m thinking I may need to go up line and pose this question to Hyundai U.S.A. Corporate as it appears they are limiting the local dealerships from allowing their techs to get the training they need to be able to service the EVs, even if they aren’t selling them in certain States yet. Anybody else checked in with their local dealerships in a non-Zero Emissions State? If so, what did they tell you? 2019 Kona EV Ultimate, Ultra Black w/Pebble Blue interior