What % of Hyundai dealers will have the ability to change batteries?

Very good question. I will probably have to do a roadtrip all the way to California (from NM).

 

If no local dealers can replace your battery, given the nature of the recall (risk of exploding battery), I would argue Hyundai should transport your Kona via flat-bed truck to a dealer who can. I would suggest diplomatically pushing for this if the need arises.

 

I'd drop it off at my local Hyundai dealership and take a loaner. They can put it on a flatbed and return it when it's done.

 

Although now that I think of it, I don't trust that would be done within a reasonable amount of time.

 

The only reason any dealer would not be able to do it is they don't have the mechanical handling gear. Other than that it's a simple unplug/unbolt operation.

However there may be cases where it's cheaper to ship or drive it to another location, especially as batteries outside of the car may need hazmat shipping.

 

Well, if it was that easy we would probably have swappable batteries. Like BYD (??) does in China?

At least now they know why it's not necessarily a bad principle. Imagine if this happens to BYD in China, they just mark the bad batteries in the computer and the swapping stations just hold them back. Easy peasy. Nobody would even notice

 

Manufacturers and dealers have (generally) fairly unbalanced relationships. If a dealer wants to sell the product then they must do so at the direction of the manufacturer. If a dealership is certified to both sell and service a vehicle then the manufacturer will dictate how they do it. In short, if Hyundai says " buy a battery lift" they will buy a battery lift, and at the (inflated) price dictated by Hyundai.

 

The pack appears to be a similar setup to the Tesla.
If they can do what these guys did (starts at 7:38) most likely any dealer could do it:

 

John Kelly can remove a nearly-identical Bolt battery seated in his wheelchair.

 

Haha, definitely. Just because Rich & Co do it in their backyard doesn't mean Hyundai will do that. That's why it's called DIY. And DIY is definitely not certified, neither by Hyundai (or any other manufacturer for that matter) nor by NHSA.

 

Well, in the long run they will need it anyways. Looks like Hyundai is a legacy manufacturer who's very serious about EVs.

 

Dealers could swap the thing if they are on good terms.

 

Actually, that was done at their registered repair shop, not his backyard.
My understanding is that the two guys working there are licensed mechanics (ex-Tesla and ex-BMW).
Apparently, they recently opened second workshop in Florida.
Not much help to me though - I'm over 8,000nm away .

 

I feel like I may be in the same boat. I live in AZ and bought the car in CA. My local dealer has been great to work with and they know their stuff, but they are NOT the main repair shop for Hyundai AZ EV’s. That shop is about 25 miles away (no big deal), but I suspect the battery job will have to be done in CA.
Last time I looked at the Hyundai recall page there was nothing there about the repair. I’ll check again today and see what shows up.