Chevrolet Equinox EV Underperforms In Early Charging…

Chevrolet Equinox EV Underperforms In Early Charging Test

The average owner's experience while fast charging an electric vehicle has always been difficult to nail down. Different charging locations rated for 350 kW can provide drastically different charge speeds even while charging the same vehicle at the same time of day.

Due to this variability, one individual’s charging experience should be taken as only a single data point. But since the vehicle's launch, we have started to see some criticism of the charge curve of the 2024 Chevrolet Equinox EV compared to the competition. While InsideEVs has yet to do independent testing, multiple early reviewers have noted the Equinox EV’s charging speeds are average at best.

The Equinox EV is one of the best electric car values in the U.S.

With a price of around $35,000 after tax incentives—and soon less with a base LT model—the Equinox EV is a great affordable electric offering in the U.S. The crossover is expected to be a key sales driver for General Motors' as it ramps up electric offerings in 2024.

But the situation appears worse than expected if the wonky charge curve experienced by YouTube channel The Average EV is typical. Generally when fast charging an electric vehicle from a low state of charge, charge speeds will quickly ramp up to the vehicle’s peak charge rate. After holding that rate for some time, most cars will gradually decrease charge rate as the battery’s level of charge increases.

That’s not what appears to be happening for this Equinox EV owner. While charging at an EVgo, the electric crossover started strong with 150+ kW speeds between a 10 and 20% state of charge. There the charge speed dropped like a rock, bottoming out at 60 kW with only a 30% charge. Shortly after, charge speeds slowly increased, hitting 90 kW at 72% charge.

Needless to say, this is an unusual charging curve. So he took his Equinox EV to an Electrify America station later that day for comparison. Here, charging peaked at 150 kW until reaching a 28% charge, then again plummeted to 65 kW at 40%, before inching back to 95 kW at a 65% charge level.

These charge session oddities were not observed in a recent Out of Spec charging test. In their testing, the car was pulling 95 kW with a 58% charge. However, this prior test was not at all comprehensive. Their vehicle started from a much higher state of charge and weather conditions were likely more favorable.

The Average EV speculates that his battery is overheating, causing the sudden ramp down in charging power. He is hopeful that Chevy will provide a software update to fix this issue as they previously had on the Cadillac Lyriq. Early owners of other EVs have dealt with similar charging issues in the past like the Ford Mustang Mach-E.

Still, we will have to wait for more charge data to generate any conclusions. If you are an Equinox EV owner, let us know your charging experience in the comments below.