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

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FloridaSun

FloridaSun

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I wonder if there is a way to know which dealerships have the battery lift to swap out the batteries.. I wonder if I could just call Hyundai USA and ask them?? Not sure if they would know. I'm in Florida and when the time comes for my new battery, I wonder how to find out what the closest dealership for me would be to get the battery swapped.. While my local dealership has technicians trained on EV's, they certainly won't get the battery lift just for 1 or 2 Hyundai EV's that are being serviced there.. So, I wonder how I can find out which dealerships have the lifts so that I'll know where to bring the car.. I'm afraid that I'll probably have to drive to Maryland to get the battery swapped.. Maryland is where I bought the car..
 
Esprit1st said:
Very good question. I will probably have to do a roadtrip all the way to California (from NM).
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That seems very likely.. I really doubt that outside ZEV states, you'll not find a dealer who has the battery lift.. May be a logistics nightmare to get all the batteries changed at the few dealers that have the lift.. I will likely have to drive 1090 miles each way to get mine done.. As they won't be able to do it in a day, I'll have to fly back when dropping off the car and then back to the dealer when it's done.
 
BlueKonaEV said:
I wonder if there is a way to know which dealerships have the battery lift to swap out the batteries.. I wonder if I could just call Hyundai USA and ask them?? Not sure if they would know. I'm in Florida and when the time comes for my new battery, I wonder how to find out what the closest dealership for me would be to get the battery swapped.. While my local dealership has technicians trained on EV's, they certainly won't get the battery lift just for 1 or 2 Hyundai EV's that are being serviced there.. So, I wonder how I can find out which dealerships have the lifts so that I'll know where to bring the car.. I'm afraid that I'll probably have to drive to Maryland to get the battery swapped.. Maryland is where I bought the car..
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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.
 
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.
 
BC-Doc said:
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.
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I would just be happy if they would cover the charges and flights.. I like road trips.... Flights are like $100 one way fare.. I would need 2 of them.. one to fly back home and another one to fly in to pick up the car..
 
mikeselectricstuff said:
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.
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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 [emoji23][emoji106]
 
BlueKonaEV said:
I wonder if there is a way to know which dealerships have the battery lift to swap out the batteries.. I wonder if I could just call Hyundai USA and ask them?? Not sure if they would know. I'm in Florida and when the time comes for my new battery, I wonder how to find out what the closest dealership for me would be to get the battery swapped.. While my local dealership has technicians trained on EV's, they certainly won't get the battery lift just for 1 or 2 Hyundai EV's that are being serviced there.. So, I wonder how I can find out which dealerships have the lifts so that I'll know where to bring the car.. I'm afraid that I'll probably have to drive to Maryland to get the battery swapped.. Maryland is where I bought the car..
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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:
 
syntaxfx said:
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:
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Dealer has to follow procedure and they are NOT allowed to change the battery without the specific battery lift. I'm sure that it can be done without it but I highly doubt that Hyundai corporate will allow any Hyundai dealers to swap the batteries without the specifically designed battery lift..
 
BlueKonaEV said:
Dealer has to follow procedure and they are NOT allowed to change the battery without the specific battery lift. I'm sure that it can be done without it but I highly doubt that Hyundai corporate will allow any Hyundai dealers to swap the batteries without the specifically designed battery lift..
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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. [emoji6][emoji106]
 
Esprit1st said:
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. [emoji6][emoji106]
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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 :).
 
BlueKonaEV said:
That seems very likely.. I really doubt that outside ZEV states, you'll not find a dealer who has the battery lift.. May be a logistics nightmare to get all the batteries changed at the few dealers that have the lift.. I will likely have to drive 1090 miles each way to get mine done.. As they won't be able to do it in a day, I'll have to fly back when dropping off the car and then back to the dealer when it's done.
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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.
 
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