As electrical automobiles (EVs) slowly work their manner towards the mainstream in some components of the nation, automakers are introducing extra EVs in fascinating automotive niches. These embrace high-performance automobiles, such because the Porsche Taycan and Lucid Air Sapphire, which boast exotic-car-beating acceleration instances. They embrace costly off-roaders with celebration tips, just like the Mercedes-Benz G-Class EV that spins in place and the GMC Hummer with its close to sideways CrabWalk.
However People purchase few of those area of interest automobiles. We purchase an terrible lot of sensible compact SUVs — the best-selling sort of car in the USA final 12 months.
If EVs will ever be really sensible for middle-American consumers, we’ll want cheap, nice, easy-to-drive, easy-to-own crossovers from manufacturers with dealerships and restore bays in each city and little to no political baggage to start out fights.
Enter the 2025 Chevrolet Equinox EV. With a beginning value within the low $30,000 vary and eligibility for the federal authorities’s EV tax credit score, the Equinox is likely one of the most inexpensive new automobiles in America this 12 months.
I spent every week test-driving a barely upscale model – my tester got here within the top-of-the-line RS trim and included the Lively Security Package deal 3, which provides Tremendous Cruise hands-free freeway driving know-how. It retails for $51,245, together with a $1,395 supply price. It’s eligible for the EV tax credit score, which might reduce the acquisition value to $43,745 for many consumers.
I discovered it an incredibly good automobile, largely for the way, nicely, regular it was. The Equinox EV just isn’t with out a few quirks (and one unusual design flaw in severe want of rethinking). But it surely’s a nice, sensible EV at an inexpensive value from an automaker with restore services nearly in every single place. It could make a wonderful alternative for a lot of consumers.
Engaging, however Not Outlandish
Some automakers have used the rise of EVs as an excuse to construct wild-looking automobiles (the Hyundai Ioniq 6 is, functionally, only a good household sedan. But it surely appears like an alien’s household sedan). I’m a fan of that method. Many consumers aren’t. They need a automobile that appears like they count on it to look however with some refined inventive touches that set it aside.
The Chevy Equinox EV is standard sufficient in its method to slot in subsequent to different Chevrolet SUVs. However a pointy nostril, a skinny line of LED lighting throughout the entrance, and an accessible contrast-color roof make it look just a bit particular.
Fashionable Cabin, Simple to Use Tech, however One Lacking Characteristic
The Equinox EV’s cabin follows an analogous line — fashionable, not outlandish. The standout characteristic is a large 17.7-inch central touchscreen — the identical one Chevy makes use of in full-size vans — however on this compact car, it’s huge.
Google built-in offers you entry to navigation, streaming leisure, and different trendy tech necessities. Nonetheless, Chevrolet doesn’t equip the Equinox EV with Apple CarPlay or Android Auto. With practically each different automobile available on the market in 2025 offering these as normal gear, it’s an odd omission.
When you purchase the automobile, you’ll get used to interfacing with Chevrolet’s interface as a substitute of a mirror of your telephone’s. It’s not more likely to be a day-to-day hindrance to your driving.
My RS included crimson and inexperienced backlit panels, which designers little doubt supposed as a sporty ingredient. The selection felt oddly Christmasy year-round. Once more, you’d get used to it. However I discovered the colour alternative odd.
None of that was sufficient, nonetheless, to detract from a well-planned, snug cabin with loads of house. Stepping as much as the RS will get you heated leather-based seats, a heated steering wheel, and different luxurious automobile niceties.
A Driving Expertise So Good It Threatens Extra Costly Automobiles
The usual Equinox EV is available in a front-wheel drive (FWD) setup with 213 horsepower and a spread of 319 miles between fees. My RS mannequin got here in all-wheel drive (AWD), with 288 hp and 285 miles.
Practically 300 hp in a mainstream compact SUV feels fast and sporty. Electrical automobiles speed up quicker than gas-powered automobiles even when the 2 have equal energy (gasoline engines construct up torque over a couple of seconds whereas electrical motors don’t have to). Put these two details collectively, and you will see that an exceptionally fast compact SUV.
Steering is mild and responsive. The large 21-inch wheels of the RS made the journey a bit firmer than you would possibly count on in a household SUV however by no means jarring. I think the smaller wheels and taller tires of the 1LT and 2LT fashions erase that really feel if it worries you.
In reality, all-wheel-drive Equinox fashions provide the identical degree of energy accessible within the bigger and dearer midsize Blazer EV. Oddly, the Equinox gives extra cargo house than the marginally bigger Blazer, too. It’s honest to ask why anybody would purchase a Blazer EV when that is sitting on the identical lot, with lots of the identical components, practically the identical dimensions, and a cheaper price.
A Weird Design Flaw
The oddest factor concerning the Equinox EV is that you simply don’t flip it off. You merely get out and stroll away. It’ll shut itself down because it detects the important thing fob leaving.
Do you have to insist on a solution to flip it off, it may be carried out via a touchscreen menu.
However I discussed a design flaw, and that deserves an evidence.
Like nearly all 2025 automobiles, the Equinox EV begins with a push-button quite than the flip of a key. It detects the presence of the important thing fob to know whether or not or to not begin.
However key fob batteries fail. Like most push-button automobiles, the Equinox EV has a fail-safe — a bodily key hiding within the fob. However, in contrast to most push-button automobiles, you’ll be able to’t use it to open the doorways. There’s no keyhole in any door.
The one solution to get into the automobile with a lifeless key fob battery is to squat down low by the tailgate and discover a keyhole the wrong way up close to the license plate holder, horizontal to the bottom. It’s coated by a rubber plug, which you should take away to seek out the important thing cylinder. Unlocking that can open the tailgate, letting you into the rear cargo space.
From there, you need to decrease the rear seats, clamber over them, climb over the again of the entrance seats, and place the important thing fob within the cup holder. If there’s a trickle of battery juice left, the automobile ought to detect it sufficient to start out. If the important thing fob battery is totally lifeless, you’ll want to interchange the battery to start out the automobile.
I verified this with a Chevrolet consultant as a result of I couldn’t consider it, both. Entering into an Equinox EV with a fading key fob battery requires joint mobility many People lack.
If in case you have any mobility restrictions in any respect, this automobile is the fallacious alternative for you. Even the younger and versatile don’t at all times keep that manner. With an damage, you would possibly discover this automobile inaccessible.
It is a foolish drawback Chevrolet has the know-how to repair, and we hope they handle it for the 2026 version. This firm has constructed tens of millions of automobiles over greater than a century. Practically all of them had a keyhole within the driver’s door. This one, bizarrely, doesn’t.
The Mainstream EV From the Mainstream Firm
That one weird flaw apart, the 2025 Chevrolet Equinox EV is a minor triumph. It’s a sensible, easy-to-live-with, enticing EV in a category of car People love from a model they know nicely. Purchase one, and also you’ll by no means battle to seek out sellers who can service it. You’ll seemingly by no means flinch at what the corporate CEO is doing within the newspaper.
You’ll simply have a likable compact SUV, accessible within the mid-$20,000 vary after the federal EV tax credit score.
