General Motors is intent on making a big splash in the EV arena. While products like the GMC Hummer EV and Cadillac Lyriq certainly have star power, they won’t help much with getting everyday car buyers on board with the electric future. The new Chevrolet Equinox EV, on the other hand, might. Not only does it adopt a popular compact crossover form, Chevrolet’s claiming an incredibly low starting price of around $30,000.
Let’s start by looking at the front of the Equinox EV, where things seem all well and good. A slim available light bar and small headlights hidden in the front fascia trim give the Equinox EV a really nifty Geordi La Forge visor appearance, exactly the sort of familiar yet futuristic look I want in an EV. It’s a really sleek front end that shouldn’t alienate mainstream buyers. It also looks like it’s in the same family as the 2024 Chevy Blazer EV.
Moving along to the profile of the Equinox, the good design touches continue. Chevrolet has been very careful not to overstyle this crossover, with just a handful of sharp creases and a few well-placed contours adding plenty of depth to the vehicle’s shape without making it feel busy. Extra kudos go to the extremely restrained use of plastic cladding on 3LT models, the body-color wheel arches really help add an upscale appearance without making the Equinox look massive. While it would be nice if the charging port was located curbside to make better use of curbside charging options, locating the charging door on the driver’s fender should minimize time out in the snow plugging in and unplugging the Equinox EV.
Around the back, funky heckblende taillights are a nice touch, while locating the license plate low down on the bumper continues the Equinox’s sleek and refined appearance. In addition, the bottom of the tailgate looks to be nice and low which should really help with loading and unloading cargo. However, the rear styling does come with a downside. Minor straight-on rear-end parking bumps will damage the tailgate rather than just the bumper cover, which could lead to higher repair bills.
The Equinox EV will also be offered in sporty RS trim which features a bevy of appearance tweaks. While the massive fake grille, black wheels, and black wheel arches aren’t my style, they’ll undoubtedly appeal to EV shoppers who want a more aggressive look.
Complementing pleasing exterior styling, the interior of the Equinox EV looks properly nice too, with a nice mix of textures, plenty of physical controls for stuff like stereo volume and climate control, and a roomy-looking floating center console with tiered storage. Also, check out those ridiculously nice outboard dashboard air vents, they look like something you’d see on a posh Mercedes-Benz, properly lovely stuff. I’m also really digging the clean, dark look of the interior screens, it should be a huge boon for night driving compared to light UX designs. Keep in mind that the interior in the above picture is from a base-model 1LT Equinox EV, making it all the more impressive.
Chevrolet touts a price of “around $30,000” for the base model, which comes with a bunch of disclaimers. The MSRP could be slightly more than $30,000, and this estimate doesn’t include any freight charges. For now, let’s say the Equinox actually starts in the low-to-mid 30s. It’s also worth noting that the base 1LT trim doesn’t come with a ton of standard equipment. It offers 19-inch alloy wheels, an 11-inch infotainment screen and an 11-inch digital gauge cluster for those wishing for a clean UX, and that’s about it. Shoppers would need to pop for the 2LT trim to get heated seats and even the availability of adaptive cruise control. That attractive base price also doesn’t include 300 miles of range, instead offering an estimated 250 miles of range from the base battery pack. That really isn’t bad considering the Equinox EV’s base price tag, and 250 miles should be plenty for the average American.
Really, those are the only caveats to the new Equinox EV. Shoppers can still option the 300-mile long-range battery pack or all-wheel-drive with 280 miles of range on the base model, and equipment seems quite generous as you go up through the trim levels. Options such as a 360-degree camera system, a 17.7-inch infotainment screen, and Super Cruise hands-free Level 2 advanced driver assistance are sure to be extremely popular. Loaded 3LT and 3RS models even get cooled front seats and an available heads-up display, exactly the sort of feature set needed to compete with other loaded compact EV crossovers.
With price and performance out of the way, let’s talk about power. An estimated 210 horsepower and 242 lb.-ft. of torque on front-wheel-drive models sounds quite good, while all-wheel-drive models crank output up to a strong estimated 290 horsepower and 346 lb.-ft. of torque. Those are some really competitive numbers that should make for reasonably strong acceleration. In terms of stopping, the Equinox EV will offer true one-pedal driving for drivers looking to make the most of regenerative braking.
While Chevrolet hasn’t yet divulged Level 3 DC fast charging specs, it has released information on the sort of 240-volt Level 2 charging many homeowners will use. The Equinox will support 11.5 kW Level 2 charging, while the Equinox 3RS can be optioned to have speedy 19.2 kW Level 2 charging. Chevrolet estimates that the former can add up to 34 miles of range per hour of charging, while the latter should take things up to 51 miles of added range per hour of charging. While there’s no word yet on whether the Equinox EV will qualify for tax credits, Chevrolet’s opening up the Equinox EV to fleet customers, an important step in helping corporate fleets across America go green.
While the proof will certainly be in the pudding, the specifications of the new Equinox EV make it seem like another job well done by GM. So long as it rides well and handles confidently, it should be a great compact crossover full-stop. Expect models in 2RS trim level to trickle into dealerships in autumn of 2023, with other trims to come later on.
All photos courtesy of Chevrolet.
I really hope the base is actually near 30k and actually available. That’s still a lot of money, but is closer to reasonable and with potential tax credits could actually be affordable to a lot of people.
The front end styling isn’t to my taste, but the inside looks…like every other CUV (which isn’t a dig, it’s clean and modern). I’m glad this exists and hope it does well.
Does anyone know if GM is able to make a profit on the new, lower priced Bolt?
Given both BYD and MG can sell a similar sort of vehicle (slightly better equipped though) into Oz for around the same price… Chevrolet is going to have its work cut out if it wants to be GM’s return to the world on the back of EVs.
I think it’s pretty cool. Here’s a thought I had about the EV future- in the past people would swear off cars of a certain brand due to their powertrain. For example, a 2010-2017 Equinox is an awful idea because the timing chain WILL fail. Now that EVs are more prevalent, and they don’t have the same sort of mechanical maladies of ICE cars, I wonder if people who previously would never buy, say, a GM product, might be considering them more now.
Oh, I’m sure manufacturers will find ways to screw up EV powertrains as well. Anyone interested in a used Bolt?
Nope, but I’ve got a Volt that’s been in the shop waiting on a part for 3.5 months now. Starting to wonder if they’re waiting out the clock on the CPO warranty
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Is there anything else under $40k that can touch this on basic specs? The Subaru/Toyota EVs have less range and are pushing $50k. The Ioniq 5 starts at $40k, loaded up it pushed $60k.
As someone who is now ineligible for any tax credit and doesn’t want to spend $60k on a EV, something like this is very intriguing.
I’m impressed. It looks like a normal vehicle that happens to be electric. Prices easily creep up and there’s no telling how dealer markups will hit. But right now, kudos GM. There’s hope for sensibility.
I’m probably dreaming here, but if I could get one right at $30K, less the $7.5K tax credit (if it qualifies), less 5K for my 2012 Volt (dreaming), less $2.5K from the ‘ol cash-savings account, plus a 15K loan from GM, strung out for as long as possible at 0% (still dreaming), then this could be the first truly New vehicle ever to show up in my garage!
Come January, this should qualify for the $7500. Until then, no. And a 2012 Volt is very likely worth $5000 or more in a private party sale.
You may be much closer than you think.
210 HP might seem fine, but for it’s size, it will be EV heavy. I would have to go with AWD, 290 HP and 300 mile range. The actual specs will probably be AWD, 275’ish HP with optimal conditions range of 270 miles.
Regardless, I would bet that for those rough specs, I’d have to buy a high trim level and probably pay close to $45k or $50K OTD. For that coin, I’d pick something other than a Chevrolet Equi-not. Thus, I doubt I’ll be getting an EV till a little ways into the 2030s.
I’ve noted that we don’t seem to be given the weight of new vehicles often in these articles: that needs to change, I think. Especially for EVs, cause it’s damn pertinent: I don’t care much how fast it can get to 60, but really want to know how it’ll handle being thrown at a corner!
Interestingly, this will probably (though not certainly) handle a corner better than an ICE version, since the batteries should give it a lower center of gravity and balance the front/rear weight a bit. But, yeah, the 0-60 times are almost always more than adequate, but are far from the whole story.
I also think EVs should list ranges at different speeds. 300 miles mixed use gives you an idea, but I would really like to know something like 70 mph range, 50 mph range, and 30 mph range (mostly the 70, but being able to figure out your own personal mix of use is helpful).
I actually like the look of it… That’s a first for a Chevy in a long time. If I can get it in 2LT trim with AWD for under 36k out the door that’s not a bad deal to me. I’d much rather have an Ioniq 5 or an EV6 but those are significantly more expensive than this.
Realistically though, unless a PHEV or fully electric Maverick is announced and readily available I’m not switching cars anytime soon anyways. I can at least enjoy the fact that some lower cost EVs are becoming available with a decent amount of range.
Man that front end is a whole lot of ugly. Reminds me of a sea creature I saw in a Jaques Cousteau film about a plankton eating whale. At least use matching paint color.
As was said in the newsreel of the Hindenburg “The Horror oh the Horror ”
BTW shouldn’t a short clip of the Hindenburg crash be a meme? I’d do it if I knew how.
Honestly, it reminds me of a grasshopper’s mandibles.
The E-quinox just took first place on my list of possible EVs to buy in 2024. It meets my must-have list of AWD, >=250 miles range and fast charging. And as @RedBarchetta noted, “Base is ace”. I’ll take the fewest driver “assist” features possible for a lower cost, Alex. I love the properly integrated screens along with the physical knobs and buttons. The “tablet glued to the dashboard” is the worst design element ever (or at least in the top 5). And kudos to Chevy for not having a 500+ horsepower drivetrain! I agree with Torch that 250 HP is the sweet spot (https://jalopnik.com/whats-the-right-amount-of-horsepower-1707517740). You get plenty of get-up-and-go, especially with the fact that electric motors give you 100% of power available as soon as your foot touches the pedal. And lower power nets you better energy efficiency (i.e. – a longer range) as well. Granted it’s a smaller car, but the 118 insta-HP available in my Fiat 500E is ridiculously fun from 0 – 40 mph – I’ve surprised plenty of douchebros in their WRX’s, thunder-foot trucks, “Cameros”, etc. by smoking them off the line at a traffic light. Sure, they catch up to me but then I can laugh all the way to the bank knowing that I just used a tiny fraction of the energy they burned getting there.
This will look great parked in the garage next to my Chevy Bolt. Oh wait, the Bolt and my house both burned down.
Oh I like this a lot. GM gets a lot of crap and for a long time it was richly deserved, but I’m on my 2nd Volt and they’ve both been among the best cars I’ve owned. They seem to know what they’re doing with EVs.
The 1LT is the vehicle for people who want A Vehicle that happens to be electric. Bravo, GM! Of course the ones who actually buy these will buy the 2LT and 3LT trims since base model new buyers are a rare sight.
Wonder what the cost would be to put a charging port on BOTH sides, so you can use whichever is more convenient to you. Hmmm.
Or just put it behind the front license plate. That would be an interesting little reversal of history…
Came here to say that. There’s no technical reason why it couldn’t be done. It could be done with ICE cars too, but they spend so much less time filling up that it’s less of an issue, and gas stations are built to accommodate both options. Around here, I can’t remember the last time I saw a gas station without a full canopy to protect customers from the elements. I can’t remember ever seeing a public EV charging station—even those banks of twelve or more Tesla Superchargers you sometimes see at freeway service plazas—that afforded its users the same protection. Plus, for home charging, people are often somewhat limited in where their chargers can go. It’s annoying to have to drape a cable over the hood of your car every day because the charge port and charger are on opposite sides.
Seriously? You think the company that wouldn’t spend an extra $3 on a better ignition switch would voluntarily agree to spend $10-20 per car more for a second charging port? Copper wiring ain’t cheap, but GM is!
That’s not a technical reason. I understand why it isn’t done—a charge port probably costs considerably more than $20 to the manufacturer, it’s more than just some wires and a bit of plastic—but it would be nice if it were. It’s the kind of quality-of-life feature that I think people will start to care about more as EVs become more and more common, and I bet someone will do it eventually.
I agree that it is probably way more $20, but that just supports my point even more. GM ain’t going to spend the money. Maybe on a Caddy.
By Chevy standards it looks pretty nice, not to mention Chevy actually does a decent job of offering good colors…this blue is great and I’m sure they’ll have some other weird ones on offer. I keep seeing Blazers in crazy colors and they almost look good.
Anyway, if it’s going to be priced in the 30s and offer 300ish miles of range it should be a winner. Everything checks out on paper and the design is just interesting enough. I’m also thrilled to see so many physical buttons in a very normal looking interior. This is what most people want, and the sooner BEVs start looking and feeling like normal cars rather than weird tech dystopia office parks the better.
More people will switch is there isn’t a huge learning curve. While GM certainly whiffs plenty they seem to be on the right track with their EVs.
Not bad at all, but I can already see those door handles hanging on a pegboard in the Dorman “HELP!” section at AutoZone. Here’s hoping the door panels come off easily.
This is exactly what the market needs. If they can control dealer price gouging, they should sell a ton of them.
I wish they had a better name than Equinox (which has always been attached to underachievers) – how about Blazer? Well, so long as they won’t catch fire…
I hate the unhooded dash, but otherwise this looks like a home run.
Alright… I admit I might not be.. the most up to date with.. these laptop things with wheels.
SO..
To buy an “electric car”, you give up all physical control to the “device on wheels.”
You change every part of your vehicle that was once useful, able to be dirty and or serve a purpose to filled with a screen meant for fragility. Lights once shined a nice bright wide area.. are now relegated to a thin strip. Visibility is now cut down to a letter size.
And since no one pays attention to whats around them… the device tells us what to do…
Man.. this sucks.
90% of what you just complained about could be said about modern gas powered vehicles as well.
Plenty of cars have screens
LED lights work great and don’t need to be much more than a strip. I’ll take the ones on my TLX over the halogens on my Cherokee any day.
And we’re still in physical control because self driving is a gimmick still in beta.
Those issues are by no means confined to EVs, nor are most of them particularly recent. People have been mounting similar complaints since at least the advent of electronic fuel injection, if not before. I sympathize—just last night I was boring my partner by trying to express why purely mechanical machines hold an appeal to me that electronically-operated ones don’t—but you can hardly lay the blame at the feet of EVs.
Just this summer, I was driving with my wife in the MGB and reached down to put the choke off of high idle and she asked what I was doing. I explained and the response I got was ‘there’s so much to do in these old cars. How do you remember it all’? It really got me thinking that with older cars, we really have to know how everything works and how to make adjustments. Since the late 80’s the functions given over to electronics make it so we don’t HAVE to know how an engine works to use a vehicle.
oh no, it’s going to drive 70mph in the left lane when the speed limit is 75!
One wonders what the case for the Cadillac version will be when it’s no longer as easy to distinguish luxury vehicles by powertrains. This already appears to have the “desirable” options (Super Cruise, cooled seats, heads up display, etc) and if the Lyriq is planning to offer much more than 300 miles of range I haven’t heard about it.
Horsepower. RWD (trim determinate) and overall interior quality, if not specific features. And at some more esoteric level, design.
Status. Exclusivity. Interior design. Same as now, really. How many luxury car buyers do you really think spend that money for the warm, fuzzy feeling that a 350-ho straight-6 under the hood brings? It’s all about nicer interior surfaces, rider comfort, and, most important by far, social status.
One true luxury in EV’s will be range. People will pay more to avoid the annoying stops to charge.
The rest of the differentiation will be interior design and materials.
*Squints at Equinox* *Equinox squints back*
It looks perfectly drivable.
if it actually is available and the price stays closer tot he 30K number and not the 40K range, then I think the 300 mile range will be adequate for this to sell in volume for the people who travel by land short distances. wanderers will not like it for now, but as the gas stations are closed up and Washington continues to subsidze EV proliferation with fuel taxes and well taxes in general, there will be little choice in the next decade.
I still feel if the cars cannot stand on their own, they should not be forced. but what do I know.
That’s a wierd take because the entire industry is and always has been shaped by subsidies and regulations.
The question is what we want to subsidize and regulate.
This vehicle and GMs general approach to the next decade is great, as far as I can tell.
On the other hand, we as a global society are hurtling full-tilt into the maw of the greatest catastrophe since the Black Death, and ICE cars are a major contributing factor. There are damn good reasons to try and force the pace of change, and they all boil down to, “It sure will suck a whole lot less than the alternative.”
Base is ace. Give me the 1LT with the optional big battery and I’m on board. Glad to hear that’ll be available. Heated seats are nice, but I can live without them. Adaptive cruise control can go straight to hell.
And here I was thinking I was the only person on Earth that loathes adaptive cruise control.
I can not stand:
Auto Lights
Auto Locking
Drive by wire
No Throttle Cable
A 5g innanet service.. permentantly attached to your vehicle
No Spare Tire
A Giant Screen
No physical connection
No actual Gauges
Forget the idea.. what Id like to come and go as I damn well please..
And being told.. this vehicle is for people who want to venture X distance.
SINCE WHEN IS ANYONE RELEGATING ANYONE ELSE.. to how far they can travel?!
Wow. That’s quite a soap box you’re standing on. Here’s hoping your Pontiac or CJ-7 keeps running until you die, or you’re gonna be a very disappointed person some day.
Im “thoroughly disappointed” now.
I hear you, brother. This 21st century is not for everyone.
No… its not for ANYONE.
No one benefits from this shit. It only allows us “as people” to be cognitively innocent.. while thinking… “Oh the car can do it for me”. Screw that shit.
My wife has auto headlights in her…. vehicle. Ive never wanted to rip the car to pieces with my bare hands JUST for the satisfaction of never having them on.. WHEN I DONT SPECIFICALLY want them on.
Auto lights are the bomb. It irks me to no end when cars with light sensors for the dash and infotainment don’t have auto lights. Those folks are the ones driving wipers on with no lights or DRL only at night.
Auto lights should be goddamn mandatory, if you ask me. There should still be an “off” setting because there will always be edge cases where you really do need the lights to be dark, but I’d be fine with it resetting to “auto” the next time the car was started—or at least the next time it was started and began moving, so that the driver could have a chance to re-set them to “off” if necessary.
Tonight, I was a fucking LUNATIC!
Comin home tonight, rain is pouring with my windows open, music cranking LOUD.. wipers not goin, cause I was FLYING, lights on. Interior is rubber, I really wasnt caring much. Normally, I have my wipers on with my lights… but I could see just fine. Most regular boring people have their hvac on, device on, interior lights on, windows up, things in their ears doing 20 under with no idea of anything around them…
AS I COME UP TO SOME MOFO with no lights on! I PUT MY BRIGHTS ON.. AND LIGHT THE FUCKER UP! I wanted to be clinically insane and just hit them from behind, be like.. WELP… ya had no lights on, no indication with lighting that you even existed.
IN SHORT…
The yahoos err FUCKERS who dont have their lights on.. are either on coke or on their devices… CAUSE YOU CANT SEE SHIT if you dont got lights on.
My car has a throttle cable, and it even has a direct physical connection between the shifter and the transmission.
Come to think of it, the parking brake is analog too.
Guessing that the bigger battery will run you in the $40k range, which honestly I’m ok with – if they pull the BS that Ford did with the lightning ($10k for the battery + the mandatory $10k package of other crap), it’ll suck.
But a “base” 2LT w/ the bigger battery seems like it’s pretty nicely equipped, at least.
Edit, I guess the bigger battery is available on the 1LT (at least on paper, that’s pretty sweet)! Will be very interested to see pricing on a base 1LT AWD…
https://media.chevrolet.com/media/us/en/chevrolet/home.detail.html/content/Pages/news/us/en/2022/sep/0908-equinoxev-reveal.html
I also read what the base model is and thought “I’ve lived without heated seats……but f*** adaptive cruise control. I would buy the base”
In every rental I’ve had with some form of ACC, it sucked. It’s far too aggressive even on it’s lowest setting, often leaving too much room and people cut you off. And my experience says that the normal passing motion of accelerating and changing lanes at the same time is impossible. In Subarus, Toyotas, Nissans, GM, and Stellantis rentals with it on by default, you have to move completely over (thus, slowing traffic in that lane), and THEN accelerate. So, you either turn off the ACC or never use cruise control.
$30k-ish for an EV CUV should be a great seller.
I’ve never driven a vehicle with ACC where it couldn’t be operated as normal cruise control if desired. Is that a thing?
My GTI Autobahn can work that way, you just change it in the car settings.
I get if you’re not used to it and it comes standard in a rental car it’d be a pain, but I admit I haven’t found a rental car with it yet, but I only have 1-2 a year.
Thats bullshit. When Im changing lanes.. POWA IS COMING ON LIKE A FREIGHT TRAIN! CHOO CHOO MOTHERFUCKER, CHOOO CHOO!!!
Im not gonna puss out.. THEN BRING ON THE CRAZY…
IM BRINGIN THE CRAZY ON THE CHOO CHOO.. as Im changin lanes!
I will never buy another car without adaptive cruise control. The best thing about it? If you don’t like it you can simply turn it off.
I drove 1200mi in about 2 days without the cruise control on.
Id rather have a busted size 13-EEE wide foot than have the vehicle do it for me. Screw that. Let the car do it for you / me? Why, cause Im in able to do it myself?