Have you noticed that EVs are starting to get…a little weird? Automakers are past the initial phase of electric vehicle development: converting existing gas-powered platforms into battery-powered machinery, and doing their best not to scare off customers with unusual or daring features. Now, the normalization of EVs in the eyes of the market has seen more than a few car companies letting down their hair a little. Maybe too much.
After trying to impress car buyers with extended range and startling acceleration, brands are now putting their own stamp on EVs. But when engineers and product planners are given free rein with a blank electrified slate — if there’s no engine, fuel lines, muffler, etc., what else can we nix? — it’s normal for the average driver to feel more than a little confused at the end result. It’s not that anyone’s setting out to make vehicles that are purposely obtuse, but the temptation to overcomplicate in the name of simplification, abandon expected options and features, and muddy the model waters is seemingly too strong to resist.
Although far from the only EV to zig when others might zag, the Chevrolet Blazer EV presents a perfect example of this turn away from tradition. It’s competent, reasonably affordable and attractively styled, but this electric SUV asks buyers to make more than a few leaps of faith prior to parking one in their garage.
How Many Models, Again?
The Chevrolet Blazer EV’s path to market was marred by many of the same delays that affected other Ultium-architecture electrics in the GM portfolio, and its initial 2024 model year was more muted than one might expect for an SUV of such import. That all changes for 2025, when customers will be exposed to the full length and breadth of the Blazer’s order sheet.
Here, for the first time, is a Chevy that can be ordered in either front-wheel drive, rear-wheel drive or all-wheel drive editions. It’s difficult to understand why any electric automobile would elect to offer front-wheel drive, period, as that particular drivetrain layout is a holdover from the era when gas engines needed to be packaged as cheaply and compactly as possible, but it’s leading the way in terms of pricing for the SUV as the entry-level trim.
Things get murkier as you build your own Blazer, as it’s the all-wheel drive version of the vehicle — yes, the one that doubles-up on the number of motors — that’s the next step in the pricing ladder. But if you decide to pay even more for the Chevrolet EV, you’ll actually have to subtract a motor in the process, as you’ve now landed on the rear-wheel drive version of the RS.
There’s a two-motor, all-wheel drive version of the RS as well (which is the Blazer EV I drove), and following that, the all-wheel drive Blazer EV SS, which is aimed at the performance crowd.
That’s confusing enough on the face of things — especially if you’re a salesperson trying to explain it all on the showroom floor — and the reasons behind the Blazer EV’s pricing structure and drivetrain shuffle don’t do much to clear things up. It seems that Chevrolet has given its rear-wheel drive SUVs the largest available battery (102-kWh) as a range-boosting bonus (giving up to 334 miles per charge for 2025), which has the effect of making it pricier than dual-motor, all-wheel drive models (which share an 85-kWh battery regardless of trim level).
Still following along? One last tidbit: the more expensive, bigger-battery RWD Blazer EV is actually the quickest and mightiest version of the vehicle (outside of the high-performance SS trim), which flies in the face of nearly every other electric on the market (where the dual-motor AWD setup adds grip and grunt). This is because every non-SS all-wheel drive Blazer EV features a beefy front motor and a smaller rear motor (with the front-wheel drive edition simply dropping the power plant off the back axle).
No Start Button?
That’s a lot to absorb, especially when presenting an all-new SUV to customers who have been waiting patiently for an affordable Ultium electric to make it off the production line. The adjustment continues once you’re behind the wheel of the Blazer EV, too.
I’m not talking about getting used to regenerative braking, setting up charging schedules or preconditioning the battery prior to hooking up a fast charger. That’s EV 101 at this point, and almost every electric car manufacturer has settled on the generalities of getting all that done.
No, I’m referring to the fact that the Chevrolet Blazer EV doesn’t have a start button. You just sit in the driver’s seat, touch the brake with your foot and it comes to life. It does have an “off” button, but it’s a screen icon about the size of a smartphone emoji. You don’t have to use it, either, as the Blazer shuts itself down on the honor system once you leave the vehicle after parking it.
GM is far from the only EV builder to forgo a starter — Tesla vehicles have long ditched this, among other traditional features — but why have one button without the other? Why subvert the hundred-year-old playbook for how we operate automobiles at all in this respect? It’s all part of the piecemeal deconstruction of the driving experience that is increasingly common in the EV space.
Prominent brands like Tesla and boutique builders like Rivian alike are migrating more and more features towards large infotainment displays (including tasks as basic as moving the air vents on the dashboard one direction or the other), or stripping them from their time-honored locations (as with the Model 3’s steering wheel buttons that control turn signals). Don’t even get us started on the “yoke,” a Tesla “feature” replacing its standard steering wheel that proved so divisive that Lexus walked back its initial plans to install a copycat feature on the RZ EV.
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Moving beyond seemingly arbitrary user-interface adjustments, there’s one more major difference between the Chevrolet Blazer EV and any gas-powered model offered under the GM banner: Chevy has removed Apple CarPlay and Android Auto capability from its Ultium vehicles (with the exception of early versions of the Cadillac Lyriq), in favor of its own Google-partnered infotainment setup.
This might not be a problem if the Blazer’s screen shake-up was an improvement. Instead, I had trouble getting it to even stream Bluetooth audio from my phone, and when it did work, controls and entertainment information were limited. This is likely by design, as the car asks you to log into its system with a Google account and then install apps through its infotainment instead.
Is this doubling-up on the app situation silly given that I already have the apps I want to use sitting on the device in my pocket? Yes. Is it a hassle to share a vehicle with a spouse or child, who has to log you out and then log back in and do the same app installs? According to every Blazer owner I’ve spoken to, also yes. Is this state of affairs likely part of a long-term strategy to control and monetize driver data even more so than General Motors already does? Undoubtedly so — and it’s one we’ve already seen happen with Tesla (which also eschews this type of phone mirroring), and to a lesser degree with Volvo’s EVs.
Lest you think this is merely a matter of personal preference, a recent survey of new car buyers indicated that one third would avoid any vehicle that didn’t offer either Apple CarPlay or Android Auto.
A Very Good EV, But Why All the Weirdness?
Let’s be clear: the Chevrolet Blazer EV isn’t a completely foreign country. Its aggravations are a barrier to entry, its confusions perhaps off-putting to customers, but the vehicle itself is comfortable, affordable (starting at $44,600) and provides a pleasant balance between power and efficiency without trying to convince you it’s a drag-strip terror in the process (a template more dual-motor EVs could adopt).
And yet, it would be an even better car if it weren’t so busy trying to dazzle you by being different in seemingly random or inconvenient ways. There are enough roadblocks on the way to EV acquisition in the United States that it doesn’t make much sense to throw up a few more right in the face of would-be customers determined enough to make it into the showroom on their own accord.
I like the Blazer EV, and found the RS AWD trim I drove to be compelling enough that it should be on the list of anyone seeking a reasonably-sized electrified hauler. When pressed for details, however, I can’t avoid mentioning the caveats that keep it from being a slam dunk for drivers swapping their gas-powered rides for a battery-fueled future. More than anything else on their path towards eventually taking over our highways and byways, I wish EVs would get out of their own way.
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