Ten Minutes at the Charger, Seventy More Miles: The Equinox EV and a Late-September Berkshires Run

DC fast charging up to 150 kW adds roughly 70 miles of range in ten minutes, the RS steps Level 2 charging to an available 19.2 kW for about 51 miles per hour at home, and Super Cruise is available on the RS.

The appropriate time is late September. The Berkshires generally peak a bit before us since the summer crowds have left now that the Tanglewood season is over.

The journey from Avon is only a short one; Great Barrington is about 50 to 55 miles by road. 

You probably do not need to charge at all

A journey starting and ending in the Farmington Valley covers a distance of between 110 and 140 miles. If you then branch off to look around, go north towards Mount Greylock, and make a few wrong turns, on a long day the total distance will be about 200 miles.

The Equinox EV has an EPA range of 319 miles when it has front-wheel drive and 307 miles when it has all-wheel drive; in both cases the range covers the trip by a large margin.

The truthful account of this article is that you take your car with a fully charged battery from your own garage, drive it to Massachusetts, have a look at the leaves, and then drive back home without using any public chargers. That entire journey is it.

This does raise a reasonable question regarding the figures in the headline.

When ten minutes and seventy miles actually matters

The claim about the 150 kW DC fast charging and about 70 miles in ten minutes is genuine. It makes a difference on genuinely long trips, for example, driving to Vermont, down to DC, and then out to Pittsburgh, not just a day trip to Lenox.

Two pieces of fine print worth knowing before you count on it:

• The highest possible charging speed occurs in the lower part of the battery, in the range from 10 to 80 per cent. Suppose you get to a charger with 60 per cent left in the battery and think you'll gain 70 miles in ten minutes you'll be let down. It is more efficient to make short stops when the battery is low rather than charging it when it is already mostly full.

• It takes around roughly 42 minutes to get from 20 per cent to 80 per cent when using a 150 kW charger; this is the real time required for a stop along a road trip, not ten minutes.

If you look at the figures side by side, 150 kW isn't the highest output in the class as a number of the competitors have 250 or 350 kW; you won't be able to tell the difference on a single day trip but you will on a journey involving multiple stops and going to another state.

Home charging is the number that changes your life

The specification is the one that merits spending money and receives less attention than it ought to.

Each Equinox EV is fitted with an 11.5 kW onboard charger, which provides approximately 34 miles of range per hour when using a 240-volt home setup; if you plug in at 7 p.m. you'll wake up with a full charge every single day.

The RS is fitted with an on-board charging unit which has a power output of 19.2 kW and thus allows a charging rate of about 51 miles per hour.

The 19.2 kW module is only available on the RS with all-wheel drive. No other configuration offers it. If faster home charging is what you are after, that is the one build that gets you there.  Before you place your order, find out exactly which configuration comes with the upgrade, because that will determine the full specification of your car.

In fact, most people do not need 19.2 kW; for someone who drives 40 miles each day and parks in a garage every night, a power of 11.5 kW is more than enough. The more powerful module breaks even when you drive long distances several times a week and have to turn the car around quickly between trips.

FWD or AWD, and what you give up

Front-wheel drive gives you 220 horsepower, 243 lb-ft, and 319 miles.

All-wheel drive gives you 300 horsepower, 355 lb-ft, and 307 miles.

It isn't a great deal of range to get in exchange for a second motor when you're in Connecticut, since there you'll spend part of the year dealing with wet leaves and part of the time on streets that have not been plowed. When deciding between the two for driving in the valley, all-wheel drive is the better choice. It should be mentioned, though, that the sub-headline arrangement an RS with the fast at-home charging facility probably involves an AWD version, so the range you should plan on is 307.

The cold weather conversation

No one selling electric vehicles enjoys saying this, so I'll state it clearly. Temperature causes a decrease in range. For example, a late September morning in the Berkshires may start at 40 degrees. A February morning in Avon is much colder. You can expect a significant loss of range in winter conditions.

This fact does not justify delaying the purchase of an electric vehicle. Instead, it suggests buying one with a greater range than you think necessary. Charge it at home every night rather than letting the battery drain over several days. The Equinox EV's range of over 300 miles gives you this margin. A vehicle with a range of 220 miles does not.

Super Cruise, and where it works

Super Cruise is available on the LT 2 and the RS, and has to be ordered; it is not cheap, so you should find out what extra cost it involves for the particular car.

It also has a limitation that is relevant for this journey. Super Cruise only functions on mapped and compatible highways. Super Cruise is worth your money if you commute on I-84 or I-91 or if you frequently drive to Boston and New York; however, it will hardly do anything during the journey that this article concerns. Buy it for your Tuesday rather than for your Saturday.

Where O'Neill's Chevrolet comes in

The issue worth discussing when it comes to electric vehicles is home charging, not the cars themselves. You ought to think about the level 2 equipment you need, the capacity of your electrical panel, who will carry out the local installation, and how long the process will take. More influence than any of the specifications listed on the vehicle's window sticker is having on whether or not you'll enjoy owning an electric vehicle.

When making a trip through the Berkshires in late September the distance generally does not exceed 200 miles, and the Equinox EV can cover it on a single charge if you start from your own garage. The 150 kW fast charging feature and the ten-minute charging time are real, and these become significant on journeys longer than this one.

The sole specifications that are worth looking at are the speed at which the car can be charged at home, the kind of drivetrain you prefer, and whether Super Cruise matches the way you drive during the week.

Before you ask about the car, you must go and enquire about the charger at O'Neill's; that way you'll get a better answer.