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With up to 300 miles of range, optional AWD, and a bargain base price, this compact electric SUV aims to take EVs mainstream.
The 2024 Chevrolet Equinox EV is gunning to silence complaints that electric cars are too expensive. When it goes on sale in the fall of 2023, the Equinox EV will offer compact SUV interior space, up to 300 miles of range, and optional all-wheel-drive, and a starting price around $30,000. Chevy isn’t yet talking about pricing in any more detail than that, but it’s a big enough claim to qualify as a metaphorical mic drop. That base price will make the Equinox EV thousands of dollars cheaper than rivals such as the Ford Mustang Mach-E (base price $44,995 for 2022), the Hyundai Ioniq 5 ($41,245), the Kia EV6 ($42,695), the Volkswagen ID.4 ($38,790), and the Tesla Model Y ($69,440), and only marginally more expensive than Chevy’s aging Bolt EV hatchback.
Chevy’s price advantage is fueled by GM’s industrial might and the fact that-for better and for worse-the company knows a thing or two about parts-sharing. The Equinox EV is built on the BEV3 architecture that also underpins the 2023 Cadillac Lyriq and the 2024 Chevrolet Blazer EV. It is powered by the company’s Ultium batteries and motors, which drive everything from the 2022 GMC Hummer EV to the Cruise Origin self-driving shuttle, and will also share components such as the steering wheel, seat frames, and the infotainment screen with the Blazer EV and the 2024 Chevrolet Silverado EV. This plan allows GM to reap economies of scale quicker as consumer adoption of EVs ramp up.
Undercutting the competition isn’t exactly a new strategy for a Chevrolet EV. For as long as people have been grousing that electric cars are too expensive, Chevy has been quietly rebutting the argument. In 2013, the Spark EV city car launched with a sticker price below $20,000 after a federal tax credit. The aforementioned Chevrolet Bolt EV arrived in 2016 with significantly more interior space and range for less than $30,000 after government spiffs. And today, while almost every other car has become more expensive, the 2023 Bolt EV has seen its base price slashed to just $26,595.
You can take those cars as proof that the reason EVs haven’t taken over our roads yet isn’t based on price alone. The problem is that, up until now, affordable electric cars have been too small, or have lacked the range, or have left out key features, or have looked too dweeby (sorry, but just look at the Bolt) to capture the attention of most new-car buyers. The key question then is, does the 2024 Chevrolet Equinox EV avoid repeating those mistakes?
Author: Eric Tingwall
Source: MotorTrend.com
