After driving hundreds of new cars over the years, I’m convinced that the most expensive car in the world usually isn’t the best car, just like the cheapest car isn’t necessarily the worst. It’s all relative. I finally got to try out the poverty-spec, bare bones, 1LT Chevy Equinox EV to see what you lose by going with the cheapest trim. The answer? Nothing important. For under $35,000 new and, more importantly, under $28,000 after a tax credit, the cheapest electric car you can get that goes over 315 miles on a charge is pretty darn good.
Even more impressively, I took one to a Tesla Supercharger and managed to top it off quickly and with ease, therefore negating one of the big qualms people have with buying a non-Tesla vehicle. The Equinox EV in its most limited form is an attractive, functional, and completely usable vehicle. Is it the best electric car? Of course not. But if the magic number for range is “300 miles,” and you think you need a crossover, it’s another capable vehicle from General Motors that doesn’t feel built to a price.
Between this and the Chevy Trax, Chevy now offers two entry-level choices for buyers who want something new and don’t want to feel like they’re being punished for buying a car that isn’t $50,000.
The Basics
Price: Starts at $33,600 (Tested 1LT trim $34,995 with $1,395 destination charge)
Powertrain: FWD single-motor 213 hp, 236 lb-ft of torque
Battery Size:Â 85 kWh lithium-ion
Range: 319 miles (EPA)
Body Style: Five-door crossover.
Why Does It Exist?
While I don’t think anyone, including GM, wishes that Chevrolet ever ended production of the Bolt, it was clear that the company wouldn’t be able to compete without something more Model Y-sized and crossover-like. The Equinox EV was the simplest answer, as the gas-powered Equinox is a popular vehicle. When product planning for the Equinox EV began, the Model Y was something like $59,000 new. GM targeted a starting price of under $35,000 for its cheapest version, a 1LT trim capable of going more than 300 miles on a single charge.
Teslas have gotten cheaper in the time in between the Equinox EV being envisioned and someone handing me the keys, but they’ve never been as cheap as an Equinox EV. For all the heat that GM has taken over the years as an organization, it’s remarkable that the company has hit its goal of building a sub-$30k (after tax credits) car with 300 miles of range.
How Does It Look?
Aerodynamics are usually the key determining factor when trying to make an electric car go far on a reasonably sized battery, which is one reason why the first long-range electric cars were slippery fastback sedans. Carmakers who want to extend the range of their gas-powered cars can spend a few cents expanding a plastic gas tank, but electric carmakers lack that luxury. Batteries are expensive.
The Equinox EV may be a “crossover” in that it’s slightly tall and has a rear cargo door, but it’s essentially a tall hatchback. This is the most basic of trims, so you can upgrade to a white-roof, but it’ll cost you. I love that this is a zero-option car and the Riptide Blue Metallic color looks good so I don’t think it’s worth the money unless you really want two-tone. The standard 19-inch wheels are also attractive and come wrapped in thick 245/55R19 tires that’ll help keep you from scuffing the wheels.
When it debuted, the Model Y carried forward the Tesla’s look in a slightly taller form. It was attractive and somewhat futuristic. Now it just looks old, even with the refresh. I think the Equinox EV looks better and I like the thick plastic cladding, which is likely to resist dings and bumps.
How About The Inside?
In a few key ways, the 1LT Equinox EV reminds me of our beloved Pontiac Aztek. This isn’t a knock. The seats on the Aztek are super comfortable and recliner-like and the seats here are equally as Milford-cushy. The plastics aren’t too hard, nothing feels half-assed, and everything works. It’s simple, but simple isn’t bad.
Also, this is the “Poverty-spec” version, and it comes with a 17.7-inch infotainment screen and 11-inch digital gauge, both of which look as good as anything else in any class anywhere close to the price. It has a starter-button, remote-start, Google Assistant built-in, and a bunch of safety features including forward collision alert, rear cross traffic braking, lane keep assist, lane departure warning, and a bunch of stuff that used to be optional but is now becoming standard.
It’s not perfect. Instead of a frunk you get this^, but the rear storage is decent and there’s even a little storage cubby underneath the rear cargo area.
There’s only about 57-cubic feet of volume with the seats down in the Equinox EV, which isn’t as good as the Model Y with the frunk included, but it’s also a more typical car shape. Sam did a thorough review of a higher trim model and gets into this in more detail.
How’s It Drive?
People love to talk about how electric cars have instantaneous torque and are blisteringly fast. For most Teslas, this is an experience you can expect. Not with the front-wheel-drive Equinox. It is, as the British like to say, sufficient. Though in this case I mean it. It gets to 60 mph fast enough to merge into traffic, but not fast enough to impress your passengers. What’s that mean? High nines.
There’s a steering wheel attached to the tires and most of the time you can tell this is the case, with decent feedback. As for ride, the Equinox EV is quite Aztek-like in how it absorbs bumps and, thanks to a lower center of gravity, very un-Aztek-like in how it handles turns, which is to say with minimal body roll. Since this is an EV, it weighs almost 5,000 pounds once you start adding humans to the interior. Again, this is basic transportation, so it doesn’t bother me that it’s not fast.
If you’re an EV driver like me, the best thing about the way the Equinox EV drives is that it has honest-to-goodness one-pedal driving. In “normal” mode the Chevy will go from 40 mph to zero faster than you can say “I swear he wasn’t like this when I bought it.” If you turn on the “high” mode you’ll barely be able to say “I swea..” This is awesome if you’re me. For passengers who were unaware, they found the vertebrae-snapping deceleration a little less comfortable and more disorienting.
The regenerative braking definitely helps make the car even more efficient and, in driving it around town, I had a hard time taking enough charge off the battery to make a video where I used a fast-charger.
How Annoying Is The Lack Of CarPlay?
Yeah, sorry. I tried. I really tried to go a week without using CarPlay and instead using the system that GM developed. I didn’t like it. The GM system, which uses Google Assistant, looks good and works fairly well at your usual tasks of switching between songs and using navigation. However, basic tasks like text messaging barely worked. Instead, you have to hope your phone buzzes loudly and then ask Siri to read you a message.
It was distracting and, as you can see in the video from Jill Ciminillo above, simple things like choosing a podcast are just unnecessarily difficult. GM says it doesn’t want to hand over control to Apple, but it’s still handing it over to Google. This isn’t a dealbreaker, since it has a nice Google Maps integration, but it seems like an own-goal situation.
Will It Tesla Supercharge?
Hell yeah it’ll Tesla Supercharge. In fact, when I got to the Tesla Supercharger station I saw another Equinox EV and a Honda Prologue, which is also built by GM and has the same basic battery and chassis design. It was entertaining to watch a Tesla owner wait for a spot while one of two Rivians and a BZ4X charged up. I even approached one Model Y owner to see if he was bothered by this. He wasn’t. In fact, he and his buddies were excited to see all the new EVs on the road.
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I was able to use the MyChevrolet app, which also acts like a key, to book the charger I wanted. All I had to do was attach the NACS adapter to the Tesla charger, plug it in, and walk away. Since this station was at a Wegman’s, I went and got some Cheerios. In about 30 minutes, the battery in the Equinox went from 48% charge to 82% charge.
Three Things To Know About The 2025 Chevy Equinox EV 1LT:
- It is a modern electric car that does modern electric car things.
- You’ll still probably want to lease it as the lease deals are good right now.
- As with many hybrids and EVs, it’s a little slow to warm the cabin on cold days, but you can use the MyChevrolet app to pre-heat the car.
Does It Fulfill Its Purpose?
Indeed. It’s cheap, but it doesn’t make you feel cheap for buying (or leasing) it. This is a sub-$35k car, delivered, that has range that matches the competition at an untouchable price.
What’s The Punctum Of The Equinox EV 1LT?
That image above is so beautiful. The zero-option press car. A price that meets the target after the destination charge. Obviously, if you qualify for the $7,500 tax credit (and it still exists) then you’re talking about something that’s under $30,000.
A Model Y is an interesting point of comparison because it’s basically a luxury car, and therefore a more expensive one. I found a comparable Model Y in Tesla’s inventory, which is a demo model with a big price adjustment and a shorter range. Guess what? It’s still more expensive. And that’s a demo model! The cheapest Mustang Mach-E only has 250 miles of range and costs more before incentives. Hyundai has an Ioniq 6 with 342 miles of range if you want a lot of distance for not that much money, but that’s still $45,000 before incentives.
If you’re going to buy an EV and don’t want to spend that much money, you can’t go wrong with the cheapest Equinox you can find.
“ However, basic tasks like text messaging barely worked. Instead, you have to hope your phone buzzes loudly and then ask Siri to read you a message.”
Good – Because when you’re behind the wheel, you’re supposed to be DRIVING, not TEXTING.
Had the ICE one as a rental recently. Does this have an actual sun visor? Mine was sized for a chop-top hotrod and I had to put the seat all the way up (I’m 5’11”) to only have half of the sun shining under it in the morning. The one in my GR86 must be at least half a size bigger for much less space to span (and is marginal in size itself).
hahahaha….YES. I just love it when GM succeeds and the Toyotists seethe. But seriously, really compelling product. I wasn’t super impressed with the Blazer EV, this seems like a much better use of the platform. Now they just need to dig up their PHEV documentation from the archives and make a new Voltec platform.
It’s a shame that the EV boom didn’t start with this. I know, revisionist thinking, but it sure would have been nice.
But I’m sure they’ll follow the Volt playbook and put all 3 of these on the back corner of the dealer lot at 17% charge, assigned to new salespeople who haven’t even read the brochure.
It was pretty funny when I bought my Volt (used, but from a Chevrolet dealer) that I had to teach the salesman about the car.
This is the first EV I’ve been interested in and also might be able to afford.
Be as cynical as you want, this is an achievement that deserves more respect, honestly.
I hope everyone who’s so eager to pile on when GM does something they think is wrong (or obviously IS wrong), is also willing to give them their due for getting it pretty right here.
The only real miss with this thing is the lack of a frunk, and, honestly, that’s completely OK. It’d be a nice to have, but it’s not as if I can put my ski boots in the engine compartment of a gas car (I mean, I CAN, but … you know).
GM done good here.
GM is starting to remind me how they became the biggest car company on the planet back when. Their styles are nice, their prices are nice, the resulting value is nice as well.
With that that being said, GM still scares me. Especially the first year or two of any model. I’ll let someone else take the hit to see if these things are reliable long term.
I fully agree with this sentiment. The styling isn’t bad (for a GM) and you actually get quite a large amount of standard features for the price. But I’ve never had a GM that didn’t have a metric crap ton of quality issues, from rattles and squeaks, to interior trim destroying itself without any help and the typical myriad of electrical issues. They simply don’t last like Toyotas do.
With that in mind, if you lease this and don’t let the warranty run out, I’m assuming that it’s a perfectly cromulent vehicle, especially at that price point.
I’m an absolute GM stan (my great grandpa was a lifelong GM man, started with Kettering in Detroit), but I’m always willing to admit to GM’s shortcomings. I will say, that my experience with modern GM products has been pretty dang good when it comes to fit and finish. My Volt in particular is a smooth operator, and all of the important touch points feel pretty dang good. I do get the occasional small noise when it’s below freezing, but overall it’s pretty damn good.
My 95 K2500? Let’s just say it’s a different story HAH
I have a ’24 2RS AWD and there is a LOT to like about it. Considering the ridiculously cheap lease price point, its great value. The tech is good (for GM) – although the app is total trash. I havent missed carplay as much as I thought given the android OS. The ride quality is phenomenally good. I was in an E-Class uber on the weekend and felt the Equinox was noticeably smoother. I find the slow charging a pain but its mostly a commuter so no biggy there . HOWEVER. My car is 6 months old and 3k miles in. The rattles are intensifying. Whilst GM often makes good strives, these things remind you, it’s still classic GM. The rattles and creaks are not just one place but a few. GM is aware of most of them and there are fixes so I have to book it in but im very happy I got a short lease. I don’t know what this thing is gunna be like in 24 months time.
I just picked up a ’24 Blazer EV RS and agree all around. The ride is great, charging is serviceable, the OS is good but I would only lease it because I refuse to pay GM a monthly fee to be able to charge planning after the initial subscription expires (which is 8 years which is really good, but still). And the app is absolute trash.
More reviews need to have the Pontiac Aztek as the baseline. Also, my boycott of all things GM will continue until the stupid “reverse-lights-as-parking-lights” issue is resolved.
It can be turned off, and should leave the factory this way
It’s pretty tough to find the setting to shut this off, and agreed, it should be turned off by default. Living where I live, it’s actually an incredibly useful feature. I just cant bare the shame of leaving it on when I do park in a parking lot at night.
I may be interested in it or the Prologue sibling. Charging is my issue.
Glad that there’s finally an affordable EV crossover. People snapped up the smaller Bolt. That was similarly timed to 60 and had worse charging. It’s more car per dollar.
For the folks who are stuck in the 2010’s for pricing, this is the new post COVID tariff era pricing. Sucks.
The people hung up on pricing also need to remember that the Bolt started at almost $40K in 2016 dollars and the fire sale prices stuck in their heads were GM writing them off at massive losses, not a sustainable production path.
This pricing for this battery capacity is remarkable.
heh, “fire sale”.
Not to mention that even for me, an MPV apologist, the Equinox EV is a million times better looking and more desirable than the Bolt ever was even after its mediocre little facelift.
I guess it’s in a more premium space the old Equinox the Trax took it’s place. GM in general scares me and GM Bev really scares me. I can see the same people who always buy the lower mid tier of GM SUVs buying this but I think they will have a lot of software bugs and probably some hardware bugs to work out. RAV4 PHEV will outsell it 10 to 1 though.
If a RAV4 PHEV is available. Toyota is not producing many. Those resources are going to Siennas and other regular hybrids.
Meanwhile, GM needs to sell a bunch of these so they can sell $100k cowboy Cadillac Silverados.
They don’t sit at dealer lots much seems like they are mainly ordered. I went to get one for my cousin and all the dealers said they move alot of them. Might be a regional thing though.
GM BEV really shouldn’t scare you. They essentially have more experience in the field than just about any of the traditional OEMS, as they’ve been producing BEV’s since the 90’s, and an actual consumer BEV since 2011. The EV specific software on my Volt is absolutely flawless. The transition from re-gen braking to actual physical brakes is completely unnoticeable when using the pedal, unless you “trick it” right at the transition point. I’ve never had any weird issues with the drive specific stuff. The infotainment stuff? Eh. Android Auto is kind of hit-or miss, although that might be my phone.
Imagine calling a $35,000 car “poverty spec”. I hate this timeline.
Considering that by inflationary standards that’s equivalent to an $18.5k car from 2000 (aka MSRP for an Accord with no leather), I would say the more concerning part of this timeline is that we (collectively) aren’t making enough money for a $35k car to be considered ‘cheap’.
It’s kind of an archaic term at this point and not just because of the prices. The base versions of just about anything have stuff that were luxury features not too long ago and tech that wasn’t dreamed of. Really, I see base equipment on anything I look at and there’s not much or anything more that I’d really want (especially if the base model doesn’t come with the horrid active safety crap I abhor, which is getting rarer to not be forced with—I’d pay extra to not have that shit) except for maybe the little nicer interior materials that often start on the next step up. The base interior materials is the last refuge of customer shaming.
Meanwhile, a RAV4 Hybrid starts at about $32k and is better for most people than either. The PHEV Rav4 has a significant premium but is still the better option for most people, especially if you are in the majority and don’t lease. The depreciation differences will ensure the RAV4 will end up being less expensive over its lifetime in PHEV form.
Try to find one ANYWHERE close to that price. And- totally not the same kind of car. One is a full out EVm the other has a gas engine and a hybrid system.
RAV4 PHEVs are now findable near sticker. They fulfill the exact same set of user needs. Same size, form factor and about the same price. The PHEV will do almost every mile most people drive using power purchased at night. Plus it has zero range anxiety and costs less fuel per mile if you happen to need to pay retail for fuel.
The reason PHEVs were at a premium is because they were the far better option, and a lot of people realized that.
That a poverty spec vehicle is now $35k I find….. depressing. Who is going to buy this? Certainly not your typical apartment/duplex renter who won’t have charging accessible. My daughter had a gas Equinox and it was kind of shit, honestly. I don’t know how this is going to sell to anyone.
I know of two (I think) Blazer EV owners who have had GM do buy-backs on their units, too.
Not everybody lives in an apartment or duplex…
39% do.
So a minority. I significant minority, but that is still 61% who could.
I don’t live in an apartment or duplex and I couldn’t charge this. Over 100 year old rowhome street in Philadelphia, no driveways or garages, street parking at a premium. Even putting a charger on a post out on the side walk in front of my house would be no guarantee I’d ever get to park in front of it by the time I get home from work and the street is full. I’d have to make weekly shopping trips to the Target up the street which has EA chargers in the lot in order to even get a charge.
So you’re in the 39% mentioned above. These aren’t for everybody, but the constant trope that nobody will buy these because “your typical apartment/duplex resident” can’t is nonsense.
So don’t buy one?
Honestly, CarPlay/Android Auto was an as close to perfect solution as we’re going to get after years of trash infotainment and nav systems, and we’re taking a step backwards if we’re moving away from them.
This new generation of built-in solutions is just another subscription that lets them keep a hand in your wallet forever.
I wonder if Hoovie will buy one.
Probably an off lease one after that Cadillac EV he has stops working for a final time
Is it though? Like really in your heart of hearts do you think so? Or is Tesla considered luxury by default because it started out selling expensive cars?
As for the Equinox itself, I’m the farthest thing imaginable from a customer for this thing, and yet I find myself almost blown away by what GM accomplished here. If they’re selling this at a major loss like they did with the Bolt, that is one thing, but if they are making a profit on this exact vehicle, that’s one of the most impressive feats in the automotive world.
Ooo good point(s). I agree that, for some reason, when I sit in a model 3 or Y I don’t see it as a luxury car, per se. I mean, they only are starting to get ventilated seats in them with the brand new refresh…meanwhile my 2003 Expedition with over 200k on the clock (and I bought for $1000) had ventilated seats that worked great.
Also, as a side note, I work with battery/cell engineers at various manufacturers. I must say, I was blown away at the lack of arrogance when talking with the cell/pack engineers at GM. Very refreshing and collaborative group.
Tesla on the other hand….all suppliers fucking hate working with them.
Midwesterners!
Had a Model Y Uber recently and was not impressed, aside from the non-ergonomic egress, etc… The materials felt like something from the ’80s without the Brougham influence TBH.
I think the most charitable read is that the Y and 3 are something like the Mercedes CLA or Metris, a non-luxury vehicle from a luxury brand, but even that seems questionable (the Model S is no S-Class).
But Mercedes is not always a luxury brand outside the US.
I read that as tongue in cheek, but maybe that’s just me. The only thing luxury about Teslas is the luxuriousness of the profit margins they must be making by selling those plywood shacks for well above EVquinox prices.