“This will be fun,” I thought as I surveyed the new Equinox EV from Chevrolet and thought about how well Wyomingites seem to receive electric vehicles. It was bright red, heavy on style, and bigger than I’d expected.
The Equinox EV is Chevy’s most risky gamble into the electric vehicle market. It’s an entry-level (read: cheap) electric aimed at mainstream buyers. With a starting price around $35,000, the Equinox EV is one of the cheapest options in its class (electric or no).
The 2024 Equinox EV is larger than the gasoline Equinox and more on par with the Blazer in both looks and size. It’s mechanically similar to the Blazer EV, which itself is also larger. Yes, I know, using those names out of size context is confusing. I’m not a fan of the “Bronco Sport” being associated with the much larger Bronco either. There’s no loyalty in vehicle naming anymore. On the upside, at least these vehicles have names and not just randomized mixtures of letters and numbers. Lookin’ at you, Toyota bZ4X.
The gamble for Chevrolet here is that the Equinox EV and the Blazer EV both need to do well in order to justify GM’s heavy-handed push into electric vehicles. In terms of the job done in making a great, mainstream electric vehicle, the Equinox EV is a slam dunk. It’s a good mixture of capability, usefulness, and everyday driveability. Sales are also doing really well. Despite most EVs seeing a lack of interest with buyers in today’s market, the Equinox EV has jumped to first place in GM’s electrified sales and saw huge sales increases from introduction to present.
So Chevrolet really hit the mark with the new Equinox EV. Which justifies my own thoughts on the vehicle.
Although it was built from the ground-up as an electric model, the 2024 Chevrolet Equinox EV’s persona isn’t that. It feels like a regular, everyday car that happens to be electric instead of fueled. Nothing about it screams “I’m electric! I’m the future!” There are no spaceship qualities, odd iPhone-like designs, or empty homages to some kind of Star Trek whitewash. Unless it’s something required specifically by the electric powertrain (battery meter instead of a tachometer, for instance), there’s nothing in the Equinox EV that is being used to push the idea that this is an electric car.
The 2024 Equinox EV has about 319 miles of range on paper and about 300 miles of range in the real world for front-wheel drive models. All-wheel drive models have about 285 miles of range. I was able to get more efficiency than expected, despite crosswinds, and the thermal management for the Equinox’s batteries will mean less than 2 percent loss in the cold as well.
Charging in the Equinox EV varies depending on circumstance. The built-in charging option at Level 2 adds about 34 miles of range per hour (11.5 kW). DC fast charging, though, can happen at up to 150 kW, gaining 70 miles of range in about 10 minutes. On my 50A home charger, the Equinox EV consistently pulled 10.5 kW and at the Electrify America chargers in Cheyenne, it pulled 120 kW.
Driving the Equinox EV is like driving any vehicle. It feels nice on the road, is pretty quiet, and it handles as expected. It has a lower center of gravity and a faster pick-up from the get-go, of course (being electric), but it isn’t a speed demon or a rally car. It’s just a good two-row family wagon in SUV format. Which explains its popularity. Again, nothing about the Equinox EV shouts “I’m electric!” Which is what people want, if we’re going to go by sales figures.
