OK to Buy a Kona Sitting on a Dealer Lot for More than a Year?

It shouldn't be an issue with the traction battery as long as it hasn't been sitting there with the battery very low for extended periods of time.

You also want to make sure it's not part of the battery recall. If I remember right, April 2020 is right around where the recall affected production ended.

 

You're right, basically impossible to know for sure. However the Kona doesn't really lose power on the traction battery. I had mine sit in a parking lot while we were on vacation for two weeks and coming back it had the exact same state of charge.

You probably want a new 12V battery, though.

 

Be sure to check the active recalls for that VIN.

 

Konas have relatively low parasitic drain compared to Teslas. Overall the risk of traction battery damage because due to a sustained low charge is low. Now the risk of messed up 12V battery is exponentially higher. That said you should also be aware that the traction battery capacity is decaying from just calendar aging from the moment its initialized during the manufacturing process. You could probably expect a capacity decay somewhere in the vicinity of 1-2% per year. A Kona that has been sitting around unused is not quite the same as a freshly minted one.

 

Just power the car on and see what the charge level is. Anything over 20% should be fine. The battery depletes very slowly over time.