2025 Chevrolet Equinox EV LT First Test Review: Bright Balancing Dark

We wanted desperately to love the 2024 Chevrolet Equinox EV. It had so many bright spots: a gorgeous, well-proportioned exterior, a big 85-kWh battery promising more than 300 miles of range, and huge screens running Google Built-In. But, as during winter, there was more darkness than light that first year. That’s because Chevy sold only top-shelf models priced high enough to make us very grumpy about the sea of shiny black pebble-grain plastic inside, the slow and awkward charging, and the weight—both of hefty batteries and of great expectations.

See, our first Equinox EV AWD RS arrived riding on fat tires and black rims, blacked-out trim, red interior accents galore, and those “Rally Sport” RS badges. All of this primed our adrenal glands for thrills that 5,073-pound SUV just couldn’t deliver. We closed our review saying, “We wish we’d had a base front-drive model to evaluate, [because] at the top-spec AWD RS price point, the Equinox EV is no match for competitors such as the VW ID4,Hyundai Ioniq 5, or Tesla Model Y.”

Well, at long last the base front-drive model is available, and you’re looking at it. Yes, this $34,995 test car has absolutely no extra-cost optional equipment. (Chevy doesn’t even nick you for this heavenly purplish Galaxy Gray paint!)

Let’s be clear, shiny pebble-grain plastic offends the editorial eye in any car, and the sooner GM adopts any other sheen and texture, the better. But give the company credit for eschewing bad-old-days poverty signaling elsewhere in the car. There are no obvious blanking plugs where switches would otherwise go, and the seats are as comfy as those in the RS even if they’re covered in monotone black cloth. Even the wheels are snazzy 19-inch jobs.

And the flip side to cruddy plastic in $50K variants is getting the $50,000-fancy high-resolution screens in the base models. These screens and all the Google Play Store apps you can fill them with go a long way to making the Equinox LT feel vastly ritzier than a similarly priced Volkswagen ID4 or Hyundai Kona EV. 

And that’s before you compare battery sizes at the entry price point. Chevy’s generous 85-kWh battery earns a 319-mile EPA range and a still-respectable 262 miles on the MotorTrend Road-Trip Range test. The most affordable VW ID4’s 62-kWh battery provides 206 miles of EPA range, the entry Kona’s 48.6-kWh pack lasts for 200 EPA miles, and the entry Toyota bZ4X’s 57.7-kWh goes 252 miles. (We have yet to run these other base two-wheel-drive models on the MT Road-Trip Range test.)

Spend a moment with the configurator, and you’ll understand why Chevy sent us a no-option car. Short of a few accessory items—all-weather floormats, cargo organizers and shade, mud flaps, black badging and mirror caps, bright or black lug nuts, a rear spoiler—nearly everything else triggers selection of one of two Convenience packages, priced at $8,300 and $11,400. Want a white roof? Sky Cool Gray contrasting seats? A $925 trailer hitch? Budget at least $8,300, please. (Maybe let U-Haul install your hitch—even the front-driver is rated to tow 1,500 pounds.)

How Does It Drive?

Weighing almost 300 pounds less than our loaded AWD RS test car, it feels nimbler, and the 19-inch wheels and taller 55-series tires provide a plusher ride. Performance is mid- to back-of-pack, but it’s perfectly sufficient. Zero to 60 mph takes 7.4 seconds after a leisurely no-wheelspin launch, with the quarter falling in 15.9 seconds at 88.2 mph. That’s about a second-and-a-half off the AWD RS’ pace, but our quickest RWD VW ID4 is only ahead by a scant tenth in both measures. Yes, the lighter Kona EV is 0.3 or 0.4 ahead, but you won’t climb out of it or the VW marveling at their speed.

The Equinox LT’s handling of a twisty road may raise an eyebrow, however. Our test car stopped from 60 mph in 111 feet—well ahead of all competitors. Similarly, its 0.87-g max lateral grip rivals that of the Hyundai Ioniq 5 (which we’ve only tested in AWD form); easily bests two-wheel-drive variants of the Kia EV6, Ford Mustang Mach-E, and VW ID4; and also tops the Nissan Ariya, Toyota bZ4X, and Hyundai Kona Electric. Rear drive with more power lets the EV6 GT-Line, Mustang Mach-E, and ID4 Pro S lay down a better figure-eight lap, but this Equinox LT handily trounces its price competitors on our mini road course despite ESC intervention and calipers or ABS that don’t release readily enough to encourage trail-braking.

Bottom Line

Chevy still promises us a sub-$30,000 Bolt EV to anchor the bottom of its price range, arriving this fall as a 2026 model. The instant it becomes available, we expect that $8,300 Convenience package to become standard on the Equinox EV. For now, the 2025 Chevrolet Equinox EV LT strikes us as a screaming bargain urban commuter that can, in a pinch, be road-tripped.