I saw you (Kona Electric spotting)

Hi:

My wife has a red kona ev and mine is ceramic blue, but we weren't parked in Mill Bay that weekend, but were on mill bay road last week.

 

I am still really amazed at how few of these are on the road, they are awesome cars.

 

Since getting mine, I haven't seen a single one yet, which I really find odd.

 

Saw a red Kona EV at the I-40/Fayetteville Rd interchange in Durham two weeks ago. Only the second Kona EV that I’ve seen since purchasing ours last summer. The first was also a red Kona driving eastbound on I-40 between Durham and Raleigh, so I’m going to guess that I’ve spotted the same red Kona twice now?!


2019 Kona EV Ultimate, Ultra Black w/Pebble Blue interior

 

I spotted a white Kona EV in Charlottesville this past Mon (8/17). I was in the white Niro EV, if you happened to have noticed.

 

I'm in western/central Mass. I've seen a bunch since the spring. Probably a dozen or more. One moved in down the street a couple months back. This area is very supportive of alt. energy so no surprise. Lots of solar panels on houses and solar farms.

 

I got mine January 15th in Palm Springs CA. Haven't seen another one since in Phoenix AZ.

 

NE CT, 12,500 miles in the last year, haven't seen one yet.

 

37k miles and 15 months and the only time that I saw another Kona Electric was when I met with forum member JoeV when he was down here in Florida last winter. While there are probably less than 10 Kona Electrics registered in Florida (I personally know of 6), we are a snowbird state where many people from up north drive their cars including of course EVs. so it's not impossible to see other Kona Electrics here in Florida during dry season (October to May).
We also have one of the largest used car dealers in the country here in Florida. They buy cars, including many EV's from all around the country.. Once leased Kona EV's reach their end of lease, I'm sure that tons of them will show up at that dealer who specializes in end of lease vehicles that they purchase at auctions all over the country.. Right now, they do NOT have any Kona Electrics..

 

We are here in central Florida, agree it is lonely being one of only a handful of Kona EVs. See plenty ICE Konas, but very rare to see another Kona Electric in the wild. I will keep a lookout.

 

There is a facebook group with a few Florida Kona EVs.. 1 in Pembroke Pines, 1 in Jacksonville and 1 in the Naples area and of course myself in Lakeland..

 

They are still quite rare in San Francisco, even though there are lots of EVs on the road here. I've seen only 2 in the 7 months I've had my Kona.

 

I haven't seen any in New Jersey except mine. When I bought it in 2019 there were only 3 for sale in the state. Anyone here from NJ?

 

The other day in San Francisco I saw my 3rd Kona EV in the wild since I bought mine in early March -- in Ultra Black. At least there are a few of us out there.

 

I don't think Hyundai is really interested in moving their EV's, they are just there to bring their fleet MPG down in the MPG restricted states so they can sell their gas guzzlers. I had to go to CA to buy both my Sonata PHEV and Kona EV because they aren't available in AZ. AZ doesn't have the MPG restrictions that CA has. Of course in 2035 only EV to be sold in CA . . . But I know my local dealer would love to be able to offer the Kona EV in Phoenix but even if they could make a trade with a CA dealer (which I wanted to do) they are prohibited by Hyundai to sell in AZ. The CA dealer said back in January (picked mine up in 1/15) all the Kona 2020 for the year were already on the ground, no more would be coming in from Korea. Seems like they could sell a lot more if they really wanted to.

 

There's no money for carmakers in EV's - at least not yet. They cost so much more than fossil cars the dealers have to virtually sell them at cost, then they never come back for maintenance, where the real profits are. They're not promoting them or advertising them (worth mentioning) so they basically take up space on the car lots. Tesla would love to sell you a car, but the quality control is non existent and the customer service is painfully slow, so it's kind of a bad investment. Like Kona EV's in AZ, it's not even legal to sell Teslas in CT and other states anyway. It's a tough market, but if you love the EV's enough you'll work past it. We have a long way to go, don't we?

 

This is all generally true. But the world is moving away from ICE and toward EVs. That ain't gonna change. Carmakers should lead, rather than be dragged along.

 

Agree, the traditional car manufacture is only trying to avoid paying emissions credits and other penalties this time. Hopefully things change in the next few years. It seems to be starting.


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