Why does Hyundai not allocate more Kona's to the US Market?

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We just bought our Kona her in Oregon. There is a lot of education needed to keep and maintain an Electric vehicle. I spent 2 months researching Lithium Ion batteries and deciding if the battery technology was advanced enough to make it worthwhile to invest. Oregon still has a electric vehicle rebate and Kona's qualify for the full rebate. This takes a little of the "high price" bite off and makes it more viable. Another drawback in Oregon is the lack of charging infrastructure. If you want to take it on a long trip, it takes advanced planning to ensure you can charge it. Infrastructure is being put in as we speak but fast charging can cost $25 to $40. Some are still free but you have to have the 7 phone apps and be willing to search and take a chance they are in working order.

It is an adventure in the making. We love the challenge and welcome the risk but a lot of others won't. They are not sold in Washington State but there are some charging stations. The range of the Kona makes it feasible to take long trips along the interstate system and some major highways. One has to be prepared to overestimate during cold weather and always have a backup plan encase you use more power than you expect. I believe the Kona will catch on but I also think the cost of an EV is still very high and needs to drop. Battery technology must improve to allow more than 1000 charges before being replaced even Kona guarantees the Kona batteries for life (long as you own it). Batteries need to not take damage by rapid charging. This may be small but it will shorten your 1000 charges. Also knowledge needs to be spread that if you take care of them, the batteries. You could get 2000 or more charges out of them.
 
GeorgeS said:
We just bought our Kona her in Oregon. There is a lot of education needed to keep and maintain an Electric vehicle. I spent 2 months researching Lithium Ion batteries and deciding if the battery technology was advanced enough to make it worthwhile to invest. Oregon still has a electric vehicle rebate and Kona's qualify for the full rebate. This takes a little of the "high price" bite off and makes it more viable. Another drawback in Oregon is the lack of charging infrastructure. If you want to take it on a long trip, it takes advanced planning to ensure you can charge it. Infrastructure is being put in as we speak but fast charging can cost $25 to $40. Some are still free but you have to have the 7 phone apps and be willing to search and take a chance they are in working order.

It is an adventure in the making. We love the challenge and welcome the risk but a lot of others won't. They are not sold in Washington State but there are some charging stations. The range of the Kona makes it feasible to take long trips along the interstate system and some major highways. One has to be prepared to overestimate during cold weather and always have a backup plan encase you use more power than you expect. I believe the Kona will catch on but I also think the cost of an EV is still very high and needs to drop. Battery technology must improve to allow more than 1000 charges before being replaced even Kona guarantees the Kona batteries for life (long as you own it). Batteries need to not take damage by rapid charging. This may be small but it will shorten your 1000 charges. Also knowledge needs to be spread that if you take care of them, the batteries. You could get 2000 or more charges out of them.
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Enjoy your new Kona Ev. The one additional benefit you didn't mention is the low (.005 %) vehicle use tax as apposed to the usually high sales tax we have to pay here - definitely brings the price down;)
 
I charge my Kona EV once a week, so 1000 charges will last me 20 years. I don't expect to be driving it nearly that long.

I learned about the Kona EV when the lease on my Ford Fusion Energi was coming up in July. I started researching BEVs around April or May and stumbled on the Kona EV. For two months I was monitoring the local availability in San Diego County and actually turned in my Fusion two months early (I had already exceeded my lease mileage) and jumped on a black Limited.

I'll have to say that, besides being an admitted "greenie," I feel like driving the Kona EV will save me money in the long run. With over $10,000 in incentives up front, it also qualified me to switch to the SDG&E TOU EV rate, which lets me charge at $0.09/kWh from midnight until 6:00 am and until 2:00 pm on weekends. This may not sound like an extremely low rate to some, but with summer peak (4 pm until 9 pm) rates of $0.52/kWh and off-peak at $0.24, it's a big savings. Plus, with the PV feeding the grid at those high rates while I'm not at home, I actually had a billing credit during July and August even though I used over 100 kWh net during each of those months. And gasoline here averages about $4.00/gal right now. The maintenance is also ridiculously cheap.

I decided to lease my Kona for a few reasons.
  • No $$ down
  • Lower monthly payment
  • I love my Kona EV but in three years, with the speed that the market is changing now, there may be affordable EVs available that I like even better. At that time I can choose to either buy out the lease or walk away at no cost and into something better.
 
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FlbrkMike said:
I charge my Kona EV once a week, so 1000 charges will last me 20 years. I don't expect to be driving it nearly that long.

I learned about the Kona EV when the lease on my Ford Fusion Energi was coming up in July. I started researching BEVs around April or May and stumbled on the Kona EV. For two months I was monitoring the local availability in San Diego County and actually turned in my Fusion two months early (I had already exceeded my lease mileage) and jumped on a black Limited.

I'll have to say that, besides being an admitted "greenie," I feel like driving the Kona EV will save me money in the long run. With over $10,000 in incentives up front, it also qualified me to switch to the SDG&E TOU EV rate, which lets me charge at $0.09/kWh from midnight until 6:00 am and until 2:00 pm on weekends. This may not sound like an extremely low rate to some, but with summer peak (4 pm until 9 pm) rates of $0.52/kWh and off-peak at $0.24, it's a big savings. Plus, with the PV feeding the grid at those high rates while I'm not at home, I actually had a billing credit during July and August even though I used over 100 kWh net during each of those months. And gasoline here averages about $4.00/gal right now. The maintenance is also ridiculously cheap.

I decided to lease my Kona for a few reasons.
  • No $$ down
  • Lower monthly payment
  • I love my Kona EV but in three years, with the speed that the market is changing now, there may be affordable EVs available that I like even better. At that time I can choose to either buy out the lease or walk away at no cost and into something better.
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Leasing is a great option for anyone who does not drive well above the mileage limit.. At 30k to 36k miles driven per year, leasing would be very espensive for me..
 
With the Kona EV selling in such small numbers in the US, it also made me wonder if Hyundai is still trying to figure out which options work best regionally and to work out the kinks on their power train?
 
TheLight75 said:
With the Kona EV selling in such small numbers in the US, it also made me wonder if Hyundai is still trying to figure out which options work best regionally and to work out the kinks on their power train?
Click to expand...
What kinks in the power train are you thinking of?
 
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