Been lucky with two bolts. I had to lemon law a new 2019 C7 Vette with 400 miles. Never know if you will get a dud bud.

 

yeah, I have a 2023 Bolt as well and never had any issues. Its seems there are a lot of issues specific to the Equinox.

 

You eqev experience sounds like my 84 day 2022 VW ID.4 that VW bought back - except I had car supplied by dealer before diagnostics - then got all my money back and kept my tax credit. Partial win.

2023 Bolt EUV Premier was flawless wanted little more room, so recently traded up to 2025 EQ EV RS. Hope I continue my good "luck" moving forward - foreboding dark clouds please stay away.

 

best of luck and I hope things continue to run smoothly!

 

What made it die?

 

unclear, some sort of computer glitch that seems to have drained the 12 volt battery.

 

After your second paragraph I’m thinking, check the 12 volt battery. A jumper box may (or not) have made it possible to power on and get it out of park, at least for the purpose of towing it.

Stories like this is why I bought a second EV. I don’t want just one and have it break, because then I’d have to drive an ICEV.

 

you are 100% correct, it was the 12 volt battery, but the jumpers were not able to power it up, it was the strangest thing, but I had 2 separate guys try. the glitch was somehow draining the power too quickly, very weird situation.

 

Oooh. Sorry for your troubles. Not fun.

The first thing that occurred to me reading the title of your post is that you had a bad 12v battery. Period.

The technician had to replace the battery and completely recalibrate the computer system.

"Recalibrate the computer system"? That strikes me as utter nonsense. More likely just a bad 12v battery, and the dealer felt the need to come up with a reason why it died, and maybe a couple of hours of labor to charge back to GM. Maybe not, but 12v battery failures have been a common weak point in EVs, and if there had been a fault in the system draining the 12v it would take more than a "recalibration" or any type of adjustment to cure. More likely the faulty component would have been replaced.

Given the dealer back up (mine is too) it's always best to be prepared to deal with any issue you can yourself. In most cases an EV with a dead 12v can be started with a jump pack of some type. PRO TIP: You must attach the leads properly and the positive battery lead should NOT be in the circuit as it may load down the jump pack and prevent car from starting.

I tested several jump packs and ended up with a HOUNY Power station (compact, great design, LiFePO4 (lowered fire danger), zippered case).

This is NOT a brag, but as example of avoiding the dealer, because of having owned a few EVs, in your scenario I would have jumped the dead car, driven home, and installed a replacement battery (worth the cost to avoid dealer entanglements). Only if the system drained the battery a second time (no lights or accessories left on by owner) would I then contact the dealer.

To top it all off, on the way home on the highway, I realized adaptive cruise control and lane assist weren’t working anymore.

By any chance did you check the settings to see if the car had been left in vanilla cruise control mode (ACC not enabled)?


The car is solid. The dealer network is the weak link. But that's not a syndrome confined to GM.

 

Oooh. Sorry for your troubles. Not fun.

The first thing that occurred top me reading the title of your post is that you had a bad 12v battery. Period.



"Recalibrate the computer system"? That strikes me as utter nonsense. More likely just a bad 12v battery, and the dealer felt the need to come up with a reason why it died, and maybe a couple of hours of labor to charge back to GM. Maybe not, but 12v battery failures have been a common weak point in EVs, and if there had been a fault in the system draining the 12v it would take more than a "recalibration" or any type of adjustment to cure. More likely the faulty component would have been replaced.

Given the dealer back up (mine is too) it's always best to be prepared to deal with any issue you can yourself. In most cases an EV with a dead 12v can be started with a jump pack of some type. PRO TIP: You must attach the leads properly and the positive battery lead should NOT be in the circuit as it may load down the jump pack and prevent car from starting.

I tested several jump packs and ended up with a HOUNY Power station (compact, great design, LiFePO4 (lowered fire danger), zippered case).

View attachment 7613

This is NOT a brag, but as example of avoiding the dealer, because of having owned a few EVs, in your scenario I would have jumped the dead car, driven home, and installed a replacement battery (worth the cost to avoid dealer entanglements). Only if the system drained the battery a second time (no lights or accessories left on by owner) would I then contact the dealer.


By any chance did you check the settings to see if the car had been left in vanilla cruise control mode (ACC not enabled)?


The car is solid. The dealer network is the weak link. But that's not a syndrome confined to GM.

it was completely dead and impossible to jump start, i had 2 experienced guys try. it seems like once it's dead the system needs to be reset and collaborated. it would be nice if there is at least a manual way to put it in neutral. my neighbor also has the equinox (i actually recommend it to them) and they had a warning about the battery, so they were able to make an appointment with the dealer a few weeks out and got a loner vehicle. but i had zero warning, the whole thing just completely died, and the loners you need to reserve a few weeks in advance, so i was completely screwed.

regular cruise does indeed work, it's the lane changing and adaptive cruise that doesn't work anymore. i think the front camera got messed up. i agree with you and would have loved to avoid the dealer but I don't see how that would've been possible

 

Dealers can make a good car be a bad experience.

But you can't blame the Equinox EV because:

• The tow operator did not have the right equipment
• The local Chevy dealers were EV incompetant
• The only Chevy dealer with an opening was 40 minutes away
• They could not look at the car for three days
• The rental place offers snide remarks

Seriously, it was an ordeal all around. But for the car:

• The 12V battery conked out and needed replacement
• The error codes needed to be cleared

The dealer did not test drive the car to make sure it was fully reset before handing it back. That's not the car.

Telling people to be wary of the car because your 12V battery had an issue seems overboard. As for the rest, it might be more appropriate to tell people not to buy a Chevy EV where you live because of lack of dealer service. Again, dealers can make a good car be a bad experience.

One of our three Equinox EV's has the telematics GPS issue. Dealer updated a bunch of software, called it fixed. Within 2 miles it was clear it was not fixed, plus they left plastic bags scattered over the floor. They did not test drive the car after calling it fixed. I don't blame the car for the bad dealer service visit, I blame the technician.

 

You’re rIght, it’s not JUST the car, although the car’s battery did malfunction for whatever reason. But, ownership is a complex gumbo of the vehicle, its reliability, and dealer support on a warrantied vehicle. Any broken link in this chain makes the ownership experience, at a minimum, unpleasant. It’s unacceptable to have to spend $80 to Uber to a dealership to repair your warrantied vehicle because closer dealerships are too busy or won’t work on an “EV.” Who would buy an Equinox EV under those circumstances? Mine has been great. I have a short term (24 month) lease awaiting a higher performance EV. But as a daily, so far so good.

 

Also see Update N25-249834 for 12V battery drain, SHVS messages in the Service, Recalls, and Technical Service Bulletins sub-forum.

 

I had the same problem, I found an article online somewhere that recommended holding the brake pedal down for 60 seconds then shifting into neutral. This worked for me, your mileage may differ.

 

Hmmmm..... link?

 

I have been overall very happy with my Equinox till now but just had a very frustrating experience with my Equinox EV and I am starting to regret the purchase.

5 days ago, out of nowhere, with no warning signs, the car just died — completely dead. It wouldn’t start, and it couldn’t even be put into neutral. A flatbed truck came but couldn’t tow it (since they couldn't get it into neutral), so I had to wait while they ordered a wheel lift and dolly just to get it to a service center. The back and forth with this alone took a day.

To make matters worse, none of the Chevy service centers near me are accepting EVs anymore. Every one of them told me they’re too backed up and dealing with too many EV-related issues. I had to find a Chevy service center 40 minutes away just to get the car looked at.

When it finally got to the dealership, it sat there for three days untouched because they were also backed up. I had no car that entire time, just waiting to hear back. Only after those three days did they finally look at it and discover a glitch with the computer system had drained the 12V battery. The technician had to replace the battery and completely recalibrate the computer system.

I contacted Chevy Concierge during that time, and they told me they wouldn’t authorize a rental car until a diagnosis was made (which again, took three days). How crazy is that??

And even then, they said they’d only reimburse for a rental if it was a Chevy, and only up to $44/day (good luck finding a rental close to that amount!).

But the thing is there were no Chevys available anywhere nearby, and they offered zero flexibility. When I called around to local car rental places and told them I specifically needed a Chevy, one place said to me, “Why Chevy, because you bought an Equinox that broke?” I kid you not, they all seemed to know this model has serious issues. That says a lot.

So I ended up having to rent a car out of pocket $85 a day


Then, when they finally said the car was ready, I had to spend $80 on an Uber just to get to the dealership and pick up what now honestly feels like a computer system that clearly wasn’t fully fleshed out (aka piece of junk).

To top it all off, on the way home on the highway, I realized adaptive cruise control and lane assist weren’t working anymore. And of course, Super Cruise doesn’t work either. So now I need to bring the car back again. These are all features I rely (and enjoyed) on a regular basis.

This is a brand new car. I bought it for peace of mind and unfortunately it’s turned out to be a nightmare.

Chevy really needs to get their act together when it comes to EVs. The cars aren’t fully ready, and the support structure around them is a mess. It feels like we’re paying premium prices to be beta testers.

My advice to potential buyers: exercise caution, this vehicle does not seem to have been thoroughly engineered or tested before being sold to the public.

Terrible, Horrible, Bad Deal!!!

 

no kidding!!

 

Your car was completely covered by warranty - there's no reason GM wouldn't start the rental immediately. Notify mary.barra@gm.com to get a member of her executive customer service team to assist you.

 

I appreciate that and will send her an email.

 

So there was absolutely no warning before my Equinox died. One minute it was fine, the next it was completely dead and couldn’t even shift to neutral.

Meanwhile, my neighbor also had a 12V battery issue in the same model, but they did get a warning message, which allowed them to drive it straight to the dealer before it died.

So it seems pretty inconsistent, sometimes there’s a warning, sometimes there’s none. That’s a big deal because being stranded with a completely bricked car is not the same as getting a warning and being able to plan ahead.

Also, I’ve spoken to quite a few other local owners, chevy service centers - and they are all telling me that there are a lot of issues popping up with the Equinox, especially related to batteries and electronic systems. It’s not just one isolated case.

I’m not trying to say it is all bad, and I’ve been very happy with mine in many ways until this happened. But I do think potential buyers deserve to know that there are real risks, both with the car itself and with how difficult it can be to get proper service if something goes wrong. There are very few technicians that know how to work on these and those that do are completely overloaded, so I think this is a pretty big issue to have when something like this arises.

I’m glad to hear your experience has mostly been better than mine!

 

So there was absolutely no warning before my Equinox died. One minute it was fine, the next it was completely dead and couldn’t even shift to neutral.

Meanwhile, my neighbor also had a 12V battery issue in the same model, but they did get a warning message, which allowed them to drive it straight to the dealer before it died.

So it seems pretty inconsistent, sometimes there’s a warning, sometimes there’s none. That’s a big deal because being stranded with a completely bricked car is not the same as getting a warning and being able to plan ahead.

Also, I’ve spoken to quite a few other local owners, chevy service centers - and they are all telling me that there are a lot of issues popping up with the Equinox, especially related to batteries and electronic systems. It’s not just one isolated case.

I’m not trying to say it is all bad, and I’ve been very happy with mine in many ways until this happened. But I do think potential buyers deserve to know that there are real risks, both with the car itself and with how difficult it can be to get proper service if something goes wrong. There are very few technicians that know how to work on these and those that do are completely overloaded, so I think this is a pretty big issue to have when something like this arises.

I’m glad to hear your experience has mostly been better than mine!

12v batteries can die over time or fail all at once with an internal failure. Sounds like OP's 12v suffered an internal failure.

 

Wow, what an ordeal. I am genuinely sorry that you experienced the issue with your dead 12V battery in your EQEV. This type of "sudden death" is always the worst thing a car owner can experience. However, it can happen to anyone, to some extent, to any brand and make of car. I am not trying to defend Chevy or Equinox EV build quality, but if you look at any car forum, there are always a few of those unfortunate bad apples. But that does not mean ALL of them are bad.

I have read enough car forums that the 12V draining issue is rampant in any modern car, whether it's an EV or an ICE vehicle. However, especially for EVs that require a computer to boot up and start the car, a dead 12V battery means a dead car. All the service-related issues you have experienced are typical of many service and manufacturing industries nowadays. I can't say Chevy is any worse than other brands or makes of cars.

That being said, a story like yours should be a warning to any car owner to be prepared for the worst. I wonder if your car's 12V battery died suddenly, or if any signs could have been caught earlier to prevent such an event? Without requiring the 12V battery to crank up the engine at the start, we miss those tell-tale signs of weakening, a soon-to-die 12V battery. It may have been draining and not recharging properly for days leading up to the event. This makes it more important to monitor the 12V battery's health and ensure it is not degraded. It is the reason I install the Bluetooth Battery Monitor on all of our vehicles. It gives me peace of mind more than GM can. lol

 

... I wonder if your car's 12V battery died suddenly, or if any signs could have been caught earlier to prevent such an event? ....

If it's this critical then there should be some type of 12v battery health monitor...

that said, I don't understand why it could not be Jumped/Battery Replaced/Disconnected etc in order to get the car going (assuming it was really and only the 121v battery being dead).

 

it was completely dead and impossible to jump start, i had 2 experienced guys try. it seems like once it's dead the system needs to be reset and collaborated

I hear you Dave. It sounds like you gave restarting the car a best effort. It's good to know your particular scenario can occur so that others can be aware.

I would suggest for anyone who does have a sudden death on their 12v and tries to restart it, there are three factors that I discovered hold true:

1) Take the 12v battery out of the circuit when you connect the jump pack. A bad battery can suck all the current from the jump pack.

2) Connect the leads of the jump pack as secure as possible.

3) The jump pack must be able to supply adequate current. I haven't measured the starting current on my ☰ yet, but my Bolt EUV drew 25-30 amps. A lot of that is likely for closing the contactors on the high voltage battery.

That being said, a story like yours should be a warning to any car owner to be prepared for the worst. I wonder if your car's 12V battery died suddenly, or if any signs could have been caught earlier to prevent such an event?

The OP swears there was no warning. I like to have a voltage read out in the cabin. If one were to check it each time before starting the car it might lend a clue to spot premature failure (the voltage would slowly be dropping over time).

One way EVs insure the 12v battery remains charged is to close the high voltage relay and charge the 12v from the traction battery if the 12v falls below a certain threshold. It would be interesting to learn what the threshold is for the ☰, or if it even has such a circuit.

 

I hear you Dave. It sounds like you gave restarting the car a best effort. It's good to know your particular scenario can occur so that others can be aware.

I would suggest for anyone who does have a sudden death on their 12v and tries to restart it, there are three factors that I discovered hold true:

1) Take the 12v battery out of the circuit when you connect the jump pack. A bad battery can suck all the current from the jump pack.

2) Connect the leads of the jump pack as secure as possible.

3) The jump pack must be able to supply adequate current. I haven't measured the starting current on my ☰ yet, but my Bolt EUV drew 25-30 amps. A lot of that is likely for closing the contactors on the high voltage battery.


The OP swears there was no warning. I like to have a voltage read out in the cabin. If one were to check it each time before starting the car it might lend a clue to spot premature failure (the voltage would slowly be dropping over time).

One way EVs insure the 12v battery remains charged is to close the high voltage relay and charge the 12v from the traction battery if the 12v falls below a certain threshold. It would be interesting to learn what the threshold is for the ☰, or if it even has such a circuit.

View attachment 7616

Yes, if the system is monitoring the 12v in order to keep it charged/topped off as it appears to be doing...

 

This makes it more important to monitor the 12V battery's health and ensure it is not degraded. It is the reason I install the Bluetooth Battery Monitor on all of our vehicles. It gives me peace of mind more than GM can. lol

If it's this critical then there should be some type of 12v battery health monitor...

Yes, owners have asked for this. Like the tire pressure monitor, it would be helpful to have a battery monitor available as a DIC widget, and infotainment app, or even an item under the Charging app.

 

My 1986 Chevrolet Celebrity had a Battery Volt Gage that will indicate the level of charge and you could see voltage jump up a notch or two when revving up the engine. With today's technology and the plethora of information we get on the dashboard, it is absurd the 12V health is missing.
So, it is not like the drivers are asking for something new that engineers would have to break their heads into.

 

I like to have a voltage read out in the cabin. If one were to check it each time before starting the car it might lend a clue to spot premature failure (the voltage would slowly be dropping over time).

What are you using for this?

I use this Bluetooth Battery Monitor 2. It directly connects to the 12V battery posts. It measures the voltage of the battery every 30 seconds and logs the data. It features a Bluetooth transmitter, allowing me to remotely monitor the 12V battery's resting voltage on my phone app, which is critical for most modern cars. For a modern car like the EQEV with sensors, simply walking up to the car, opening the door or hood, touching any of the buttons, or pressing the brake pedal wakes it up. The moment the car wakes up, it sends a signal to other sensors and the internal computer, which spikes the draw and changes the voltage of the 12V battery. You can't measure the resting voltage of a "sleeping" car with any built-in in-dash monitor or a monitor inserted into the 12V socket.

The Bluetooth monitor itself uses 1.5mA of juice from the 12V battery. So it does add up to any other phantom drains, but in my experience, it is small enough that a healthy 12V battery with "normal" phantom drains of modern cars, which can be as high as 100mA or higher, has no noticeable effects on daily drains.

However, all the monitoring is useless if an internal failure of a defective 12V battery occurs suddenly, to the point that no battery degradation could be detected in the days leading up to it.

 

very cool!

 

One of my first purchases was a jump starter to carry with me in the car. I really think that the voltage of the 12v battery should be part of the info display. Unless I am mistaken, there is absolutely no prior warning of a failing battery.

 

I agree 100% - it's crazy that there was no prior warning and I only found out once it was too late. It also seems like the 12v are having some issue, the car is only a year old 6500 miles, shouldn't be dying so soon.

 

Batts don't last long in FL. Avg 3 years.

 

Just as bad here in Arizona.

 

Heat kills them pete. I never keep a car that long so never have to worry.

 

I was totally shocked when I learned that EVs even HAD 12v batteries... what a waste ..

 

12 volt battery isn’t so bad, but that they are short lived, old school lead acid is ridiculous. Not even LiFePO4! My electric motorcycle has 12 volt accessory outlets, 12 volt lighting, and 12 volt electronics, but it’s all powered off the 100-some volt traction battery. No junky 12 volt lead acid battery required. I don’t understand why EV cars can’t do that.

 

(Keep in mind this is a discussion strictly with car=OFF)

EDIT: I edited the following statement after realizing I had a wrong car's historical record on my app. The comment is now based on the observation of the historical data from my EQEV 12V battery SOC over time.

With the car off, you would have to keep the car parked unplugged for a while, to see if the 12V battery charge drops low enough. It seems even in the OFF state, the car draws quite a bit. I have not measured the amp draw while the car is OFF, but it is probably higher than 100mA. With the historical graph, it is clear that the car automatically charges the 12V battery as needed when the resting voltage drops to about 60% or 12.4V. I have not kept the car undriven for more than a few days, so I don't know what happens in a long term storage of weeks or longer, but depending on the SOC on the traction battery and the condition of the 12V battery, I expect it will keep topping off for days if not weeks.

With the car off and plugged in, the 12V battery is actively charged when the traction battery is actively charged from the wall. What I don't know is what happens if the car is kept plugged for a long time (meaning days and weeks) after it completes charging the traction battery. I think it will charge the 12V battery as needed. But I don't know how often or at what resting voltage of the 12V battery the car would start charging while plugged in. I suspect it will top off as needed when the 12V SOC drops to below 60% (~12.4V). I don't keep my EQEV plugged in all the time, and even if I did, I don't keep it undriven any more than a few days.

That's what I assumed/guessed they did until I learned different.

What I have read is that if an EV is designed to run everything off the high-voltage traction battery and eliminate the 12-volt battery, then it must be on all the time. If, for some reason, the traction battery kept draining for a long time while car is off, it would do far more damage to the expensive traction battery than to drain the cheap 12v battery. It would be beneficial to sacrifice the cheap component rather than risk damaging and needing to replace an expensive traction battery.

 

What I have read is that if an EV is designed to run everything off the high-voltage traction battery and eliminate the 12-volt battery, then it must be on all the time. If, for some reason, the traction battery kept draining for a long time while car is off, it would do far more damage to the expensive traction battery than to drain the cheap 12v battery. It would be beneficial to sacrifice the cheap component rather than risk damaging and needing to replace an expensive traction battery.

That makes sense, but the battery (like my home batteries) should have bms (battery management system) that protects it from deep discharge/extremes/damage...

 

One word: Super capacitors.

Ok. Two words. I keep thinking they will replace the 12v battery, but alas the characteristics are not a good fit. Yet.

 

The exact thing happened to me, but it was my Ford Maverick Hybrid. Bad software led to draining the 12V battery, leaving the truck dead as a doornail.

So it seems maybe manufacturers in general seem to have a hard time marrying a traction battery and a 12V battery.

OTOH, our Equinox EV has been flawless, other than a couple of phantom braking events while backing up.

 

Exactly- seems the best automotive engineers ought to be able to work out a transformer that can do the job and put an end to the incipient failure of such a weak part

Years ago I was a proponent of battery exchange tech and, as a VP of one of the local EV clubs I was allowed to attend a Berkely /Stanford engineer's forum on "the electrification of automobiles." When I discussed B Exchange one "expert" he said there were difficulties with the tech. He mentioned latching the exchange battery in place and I replied "Detroit can't make a latch?"

 

This isn't an EQ issue. I read about with Hyundai and Tesla. The 12 volt is small and if it dies the system will not work. The 12 volt battery is a much more likely fail than the large batter or the electronics.

Did you have it parked for any length of time? Did you have any devices plugged into the numerous ports that could drain the battery? Did you press the lane keep assist button to turn it on? Did you go through the settings? The system seems to have changed to default settings. It is unlikely that all those systems have failed.

 

I used the car that morning, but there was a heat wave, so perhaps it's connected to that. nothing plugged in.

 

Additional notes.

At first I tried to remove the positive terminal, because the red plastic cover for it pops right off. But it is a far more difficult process because there is a 2nd layer cover under the metal battery cage, and even when you remove that plastic cover there is a bus bar that still blocks access to the terminal.

Positive terminal cover

Second layer cover removed

Note the vertical extrusion atop the battery terminal. It seems designed specifically to accept an alligator clip. Nice touch.

 

Additional notes.

At first I tried to remove the positive terminal, because the red plastic cover for it pops right off. But it is a far more difficult process because there is a 2nd layer cover under the metal battery cage, and even when you remove that plastic cover there is a bus bar that still blocks access to the terminal.

Positive terminal cover
View attachment 7675


Note the vertical extrusion atop the battery terminal. It seems designed specifically to accept an alligator clip. Nice touch.
Second layer cover removed
View attachment 7676

Thanks for the great process pics!

 

So... if a normal jump (following the OM steps) does not wake the car, plan B is to disconnect the 12v and jump the battery leads instead per Coastal's post above; If that works, install a new 12v AGM battery to get the car moving again.