The country has been chomping at the bit for affordable all-electric vehicles and Chevrolet is finally launching their price-conscious Equinox EV. After all, General Motors has been in the EV game longer than most. Remember the GM EV 1?

So two and a half years after it was unveiled, we went to Detroit, Michigan to get behind the wheel of the 2024 Chevrolet Equinox EV for the very first time.

Base pricing for the Equinox EV starts at $34,995 for a 1LT model. That includes destination and excludes the fact that it also qualifies for the entire $7,500 federal tax credit. That means you can get one for under $30,000. Impressive.

You may be familiar with the gas-powered Equinox. Well, the EV version doesn’t share much with it other than name and size…although the electric one is about 7-inches longer. Looks are very different, the ICE version going for the rough and rugged look for 2025 while this EV stays very sleek, modern, and most importantly aerodynamic.

The Equinox EV comes in a number of different LT and RS trims. LT models see 19-inch wheels while RS models bump that up to 21s with more black exterior accents.

“The Equinox EV drives pretty much exactly how I was expecting it to drive in the best way. It’s quiet. It’s smooth. It’s really comfortable. There’s a fair amount of space here in the cabin. and like a lot of other GM models, specifically base General Motors models. They have really good NVH, which means that, whether we’re driving at lower speeds or even high speeds on the highway, it’s just really quiet and comfortable in here…And, you know, we’re even on 21 inch wheels on this Rs model, and it’s still pretty comfortable. So I can only imagine how the comfort level will go up, even, a little bit more with the 19 inch wheels. So yeah, just overall really, really pleasantly surprised about, you know, the, the bargain that the Equinox EV is.”

Front-wheel drive models see an ample 213 horsepower and 288 lb-ft of torque while adding a second smaller motor in the rear gives us all-wheel drive plus 236 horses and 333 lb-ft of torque.

Unlike the similarly priced Bolt, the Equinox EV is built on GM’s Ultium platform and takes advantage of the better battery tech for a max range of up to 319 miles on a single charge. Opting for all-wheel drive drops that down to 285 miles but plug into a DC fast charger for up to 150-kilowatts into the 85-kWh battery pack. That’s 77 miles of range in 10 minutes.

The interior sees a standard 17-inch central display with the use of Google Built-In. No CarPlay here but overall the cabin felt very roomy and the RS had a sporty vibe to it. Plus plenty of space for rear passengers and cargo.

Plus, one really interesting option:

“One of the more surprising features here in the Equinox EV is the fact that you can get Super Cruise as an option. It has the latest version, which includes automatic lane changes. and so far, so good. I’m using this system right now, and it’s working exactly as expected and pretty much exactly the same as the $90,000 Silverado EV that I just recently tested it with. So, yeah, just a really pleasant surprise. for those who are really interested in doing more road trips with their EVs, especially now that we have over 300 miles of range. And even if it doesn’t automatically change lanes for us, I can tell it to change lanes by just using the turn signal. It’ll pop into the next lane and turn it off and that’s it. Handsfree.”

The arrival of the Equinox EV is sure to be game changing for Chevrolet and they’re arriving at dealerships as we speak.

We’re looking forward to spending more time with the Equinox EV in the near future when we have it back home for a full Road Test review, so keep it locked right here on MotorWeek!