GM Nailed The New Chevy Equinox EV, But Would You Actually Buy One?

I recently had a chance to drive the 2025 Chevy Equinox EV, and overall, I liked it. It’s a competent and fun machine, and it’s priced really well, relative speaking. But right now the EV market is in a tricky spot, and the new Equinox EV is entering the lion’s den. So I have to wonder: Would you buy one?

A couple weeks ago Chevrolet held a ride & drive event just outside an Erewhon, a grocery store whose spelling I can proudly say I had to look up.

Honestly, it was a brilliant little ad campaign. Erewhon shoppers are generally well-off, environmentally-conscious folks who love the idea of EVs but maybe aren’t huge GM fans. Come to think of it, I bet the environmentalist-GM shopper Venn Diagram doesn’t have a lot of folks in the middle, especially when compared to, say, Subaru or Tesla. Chevy, obviously, wants to change that.

So the brand set up camp just outside this hilariously boujee grocery store that’s become kind of a viral sensation in its own right, and in addition to offering free rides, the brand gave out a free “Electric Juice” made blue by “Spirulina,’ which I think is some kind of algae. Though many have joked that I have gone “Hollywood” since moving out of Detroit two years ago, the truth is: I’m more of a chocolate milk guy. Still, I decided to make the sacrifice and try out the chocho-filled blue “wellness beverage,” but only for you, dear readers. I also tested the Equinox while I was at it:

GM says Equinox sales are off to a good start, but the brand is really leaning on California, which has huge purchasing power in the EV space. From Chevy:

In August, Chevrolet had its best month ever for EV sales, powered by strong demand for the Equinox EV. Los Angeles is home to one of the country’s largest EV markets.

“We are looking forward for more customers to discover the Equinox EV – a fun-to-drive electric SUV,” said Steve Majoros, chief marketing officer, Chevrolet. “This relationship allows us to connect with potential new EV customers in southern California, an important market for Chevrolet.”

The car I drove was a 3LT, with dual-zone climate control, fancy wheels, an optional two-tone roof and Super Cruise-equipped Active Safety Package — as well as all the features a standard 2LT Equinox features like a 17.7-inch LCD display, power liftgate, and a front-wheel drive powertrain that offers 319 miles of range. All in, the car was probably in the low $40,000 range after $7,500 federal EV rebate.

You may be wondering: “What about the sub-$30,000 Equinox EV we were promised?” That’s the 1LT, and it’s not yet on Chevy’s configurator; that’s expected as a 2025 model, and while it will start around $35,000 (so around $27,500 after rebate), even the pricier 2LTs and up are getting discounts right now at dealerships. You can find sub-$30,000 brand new Chevy Equinox EVs right now. And that’s a decent deal, though again, is it enough given the crazy depreciation we’re seeing from EVs? We’ll get back to that.

For now I want to just focus on how much Chevy absolutely nailed the execution with the Equinox EV. You step into the car, buckle up, and then instead of reaching for a start button or a floor-shifter, you grab a lever behind the steering wheel:

Yes, a column shifter! No weird screen-shifter, no waste-of-space floor shifter — a column shifter. It’s the right shifter for 2024, and it frees up all this space for cupholders, a phone slot, USB-C ports, and a big storage bin just below the center stack:

Below all that is a nice, spacious storage bin, which is an acceptable use of space. A flat-floor or a floor-mounted bin that’s accessible from above for taller items would have been great, too, but Chevy’s setup works:

Overall, the car seems quite spacious, with a reasonably large two-tier cargo area:

The raked hatch limits how high one can stack a load, but there is some extra room below the floor:

The rear seats offer lots of leg and headroom, with a flat floor:

There’s no frunk, which I know is going to upset some people, but this hardware has to go somewhere, and if it’s not in the frunk it’s likely reducing cabin volume, so I’m sympathetic to that, even if I do like a frunk:

So, it’s a big enough car for most, and what’s more, the cab is just a nice place to spend time, with good quality materials and fun design-touches everywhere. How about that two-tone dashboard?:

And look at those gorgeous outer vents:

And notice how the HVAC and volume buttons are actual, real buttons:

The Human Machine Interface team at Chevy nailed the Equinox EV. You step in; you pull the satisfying shifter to drive off; you adjust your radio and HVACs via nice, well-located switches; the crisp and vibrant screen feels well integrated into the dash. It’s a great example of how to just get the fundamentals right and not try to overcomplicate things – something that has happened a lot in the EV space, especially in the early days when automakers felt all EVs had to feel like spaceships.

Once you’re in drive, you punch the pedal and the car drives off…quickly enough. It’s an almost 5,000 pound vehicle, which is quite absurd, but that’s thanks to a massive 85kWh battery pack needed to propel the vehicle over 300 miles on a charge. The 213 horsepower front motor should get the car from zero to 60 mph in around 8 seconds. The Equinox has about 25 percent more weight per horsepower than my BMW i3S, and it definitely felt that way when I punched the pedal. EVs are generally quick: The Equinox is only sorta-quick.

It still feels quicker than an ICE car with similar horsepower by virtue of the single-speed gear reduction in place of a multi-gear transmission as well as the relative lack of sound. I say “relative,” because there’s still a speaker outside warning pedestrians of an oncoming 2.5-ton SUV, and, especially under heavy acceleration, I heard — perhaps through the speakers — acceleration noise in the cabin that was helpful in giving me an understanding how quickly I was speeding up.

I’ve already voiced my concerns about EVs offering absurd amounts of power to the layperson, so it’d be foolish for me to complain about the Equinox’s 8 second 0-60 time. It’s totally fine. But just fine.

I didn’t play with the car’s regenerative braking settings, but it’s cool that it’s adjustable from “off” to “one-pedal driving.” I think I was driving in normal mode, which felt about as aggressive as, say, a gasoline car downshifting a gear or two (obviously, that’s a pretty general comparison given that not all downshifts are created equal, but the point is — it doesn’t jolt you to a stop, but it’s far from a simple coast).

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Anyway, the Chevy Equinox EV is spacious, it’s extremely intuitive to use, it’s got a modest but sufficient amount of power, it’s got all the tech you need, and — especially with the two-tone roof — it looks decent as well. It’s a compelling car, even at $35,000-ish bucks, though I’d still have a hard time suggesting that someone pay that much.

EV values are dropping like rocks; buying a new car only to have it depreciate 30%-50% in a couple years seems like a bad call. I mean, just look at what a 2022 Chevy Bolt — which had an MSRP of $32,000 — goes for these days:

Heck, you can buy a two year-old Tesla Model Y for only $30 big ones these days, too:

Ditto with Polestar 2s:

Equinox EVs are already seeing discounts from dealerships:

And while the 1LT will drop the price below $30,000 (after tax rebate), the question is whether that’s going be enough to make the car a sales success. That’s what I’d like to ask you all today. If you want a fuller review of the car, go ahead and read Sam A’s review on our site, but first let me know in the comments how you think the Equinox will fare in what has become a really difficult new-EV market.

Oh, and in case you were wondering: I hate to admit it, but Electric Juice was delicious. It tasted like a blend of almond milk and coconut milk — it was oat-y and milky and, honestly, fantastic. But then, you’d hope it would be given that it probably would have cost me $20 if I had to pay for it myself.