Not too big, not too expensive: The Chevrolet Equinox EV
Thereβs a lot of goodwill out there for the Chevrolet Bolt. As maybe the first properly affordable longer-range electric car on the market, the Bolt wasnβt perfect. It didnβt charge very fast, and people found the seats quite uncomfortable. But it could get more than 230 miles on a single chargeβa lot in 2017βand you didnβt have to be flush to afford one. Oh, and it was also pretty good to drive. I know I was a fan from the first time I tried a prototype at CES in 2016.
Understandably, Bolt fans were upset when Chevy decided to kill off the car. Yes, it lacked features compared to more modern EVs, but it is also the brandβs bestselling EV by quite a country mile. βNot to worry,β said the executives, who told us they had something better coming built on the platform they used to call Ultium but donβt anymore. Starting at around the same $35,000 price tag the Bolt launched with, this would be the new Equinox EV.
That $34,995 price tag was perhaps a bit more appealing when the car was eligible for the now-dead $7,500 IRS clean vehicle tax credit. Truth be told, the LT1 spec is a little bare-boned, and youβll need to step up to the LT2 we testedβwhich starts at $40,295βif you want things like heated seats or wireless charging for your devices. (The good news here is that people looking for a bargain should know that used Equinox EVs with decent specs are already much cheaper, just a year after the carβs launch.) And letβs not forget, when the Bolt was young, the more expensive trim was almost $42,000.


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