Jaecoo J7 PHEV

[Kar_lover]

On 5/5/2025 at 4:18 PM, Heartlander said:

If I am not wrong, there is a EV button that would allow the car to be driven under strictly EV mode. 

From a review online:

Estimated to be landing soon with a $210,000-ish price tag (inclusive of COE), however, the Jaecoo J7 has quite a different goal in mind: Of bringing the best of both worlds to a larger crowd. An 18.3kWh battery gives the car the ability to run completely silent and emission-free for up to 90km - but the presence too of a 1.5-litre turbocharged engine, a 60-litre fuel tank and a clever hybrid transmission, means the J7 claims a combined mileage of close to 1,200km when fully charged and fully refilled.  

During my test drive, SA told me the EV button is actually not useful. Car will always start under EV mode and from there depending on the conditions, the SHS will decide which mode to drive in. If u join the Jaecoo Singapore Owners FB group, some members posted the YT video explaining how SHS works.

 

[Terence2112]

On 5/6/2025 at 7:54 AM, Kar_lover said:

During my test drive, SA told me the EV button is actually not useful. Car will always start under EV mode and from there depending on the conditions, the SHS will decide which mode to drive in. If u join the Jaecoo Singapore Owners FB group, some members posted the YT video explaining how SHS works.

 

Yes that is right. Best to leave it at the HEV mode. The EV mode is only applicable if want to drive to 0% SOC, which is not advisable. 

[Heartlander]

On 5/6/2025 at 7:54 AM, Kar_lover said:

During my test drive, SA told me the EV button is actually not useful. Car will always start under EV mode and from there depending on the conditions, the SHS will decide which mode to drive in. If u join the Jaecoo Singapore Owners FB group, some members posted the YT video explaining how SHS works.

 

Most if not all hybrid cars will start with EV mode, and transit to be powered by ICE engine after reach certain speed. And would have an EV button to allow selection of this EV mode till the EV battery is depleted or below certain %. PHEV is only a variant of hybrid with bigger EV battery to allow longer EV range. Most buyers of PHEV cars buy these cars for this reason. If this J7 cannot serve this purpose, then no point getting it all all. But I do not think the Jaecoo J7 is like that as it is really defying the common understanding and bordering on deceiving the owners if this setup is not made known to public before buying. I can understand if the car will switch out of EV mode when the EV battery drops to 15%, but this is different from saying the car cannot work under EV mode at all.

Anyway from an review:

Dubbed the Super Hybrid System or SHS, the J7 PHEV is able to go into four drive modes - EV, Series Hybrid, Parallel Hybrid and full ICE. 

In EV mode, the car is quick enough for most situations and feels as responsive as you’d hope. In fact, being front-wheel driven, the J7 PHEV can cause its front wheels to spin if you’re liberal with the throttle. 0-100 km/h is dispatched in 8.5 seconds. This veracity is despite the weight penalty of lugging the ICE engine around. The petrol engine would do its level best not to kick in, even with the accelerator pedal pinned to the floor. I find this quite remarkable as at maximum acceleration, most PHEVs would wave the white flag and start to burn fossil fuel.

The upshot of this is that even with a depleted battery, the car runs as efficiently as a conventional hybrid. The car will switch out of EV mode into one of its other three drive modes once the battery hits around the 15% mark, as we observed during our drive. 

Edited May 6 by Heartlander

[inlinesix]

On 5/6/2025 at 8:33 AM, Terence2112 said:

Yes that is right. Best to leave it at the HEV mode. The EV mode is only applicable if want to drive to 0% SOC, which is not advisable. 

Wouldn’t the system intervene when SOC drops to certain cut-off point?

[Kar_lover]

On 5/6/2025 at 8:39 AM, inlinesix said:

Wouldn’t the system intervene when SOC drops to certain cut-off point?

I was told the battery won't go below 15%. This is the minimum it will retain in order to start the car the next time. I guess only one way to find out is to go to the showroom.

Anyway whatever it is, this is definitely a very good car to consider if u are after a PHEV (cos u're not ready to go full EV) that is around the size of an X1. As a bonus, to what i know, this is the only 1.6L PHEV making the road tax a very reasonable. Finally one thing to note is i liked is that the motor output is high (201hp) compared to other PHEVs  - GLC300 plug-in is only 134hp. And the J7 has more total  power than the GLC plug-in (at least on paper) despite the ICE being only 1.6L.

Downside is without the full rebate, the price is quite high compared to the full EVs such as SL7, Xpeng G6, Deepal S07, etc which are bigger and cheaper. Even with the higher PARF, the depre is still $21k (at time of writing). Which is why ultimately i decided to go full EV. 

[Freeder]

On 5/6/2025 at 8:33 AM, Terence2112 said:

Yes that is right. Best to leave it at the HEV mode. The EV mode is only applicable if want to drive to 0% SOC, which is not advisable. 

KL got many J7s..

Saw so many on the roads for the past few days…

Think should be good..

[Kklim]

On 5/9/2025 at 9:05 AM, Freeder said:

KL got many J7s..

Saw so many on the roads for the past few days…

Think should be good..

One owner posted on FB that his sunroof shattered! 

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1AiLSuk1N6/

Edited May 9 by Kklim

[Hamburger]

@Kklim 

Owner claimed premium brand like this should not happen.

[Terence2112]

Took delivery of the J7 for 2 weeks. 

Full tank and 1 full charge can travel min 1200km. Pumped and charged last Saturday and have travelled about 502km since, and still have about 790km range left.

let’s see whether the range is over or understated! 

[Lala81]

On 6/1/2025 at 9:54 AM, Terence2112 said:

Took delivery of the J7 for 2 weeks. 

Full tank and 1 full charge can travel min 1200km. Pumped and charged last Saturday and have travelled about 502km since, and still have about 790km range left.

let’s see whether the range is over or understated! 

That's impressive. 

[13177]

On 6/1/2025 at 10:49 AM, Lala81 said:

That's impressive. 

Indeed impressive, so far think none EV has such impressive range right?! 

[Freeder]

On 6/1/2025 at 9:54 AM, Terence2112 said:

Took delivery of the J7 for 2 weeks. 

Full tank and 1 full charge can travel min 1200km. Pumped and charged last Saturday and have travelled about 502km since, and still have about 790km range left.

let’s see whether the range is over or understated! 

Wah..if diesel cum EV combo, 2k km is achievable… 🤭

[inlinesix]

On 6/1/2025 at 2:45 PM, Freeder said:

Wah..if diesel cum EV combo, 2k km is achievable… 🤭

J250 Prado already achieve 1.3k km using 2.8L Diesel

Edited June 1 by inlinesix

[Terence2112]

On 6/1/2025 at 11:23 AM, 13177 said:

Indeed impressive, so far think none EV has such impressive range right?! 

Doubt so. But j7 is a PHEV, so the engine is constantly charging the batt min 20%, with a range of 12km. 
 

[Terence2112]

Trying to experiment whether can hit 1400km in a full tank and 1 single charge! 

[steveting99]

@Terence2112 Would be interested in your fuel consumption on a single charge and full tank can indeed hit 1,400kms. If it can, that's equivalent to 4.3 L/km (23.3km/L) or 54.9 mpg which is in Toyota Prius hybrid territory on a SUV.

You shouldn't have to hyper mile to get these fuel economy figures. 

Did you manage to get the battery degradation curve from Vertex Auto? Would like to know how many charge cycles the high voltage battery pack is rated for and the state of health. An example of BYD's blade battery (model CBV4A) degradation curve is given below.

Would also like to check if Jaecoo's high voltage battery pack meets the requirements of the current GB 38031-2025 standard?  The purpose is to increase the requirements for battery safety, including a focus on preventing fire / explosion during thermal runaway events as well as smoke generation that can harm occupants. The high voltage batteries must be able to contain any fire or explosion for 120 minutes after a thermal event and pass bottom impact tests. The current standard is a more strict requirement than older GB 38031-2020 standard. Vertex Auto should be able confirm which standard the high voltage batteries comply with. 

[Terence2112]

On 6/3/2025 at 9:35 AM, steveting99 said:

@Terence2112 Would be interested in your fuel consumption on a single charge and full tank can indeed hit 1,400kms. If it can, that's equivalent to 4.3 L/km (23.3km/L) or 54.9 mpg which is in Toyota Prius hybrid territory on a SUV.

You shouldn't have to hyper mile to get these fuel economy figures. 

Did you manage to get the battery degradation curve from Vertex Auto? Would like to know how many charge cycles the high voltage battery pack is rated for and the state of health. An example of BYD's blade battery (model CBV4A) degradation curve is given below.

Would also like to check if Jaecoo's high voltage battery pack meets the requirements of the current GB 38031-2025 standard?  The purpose is to increase the requirements for battery safety, including a focus on preventing fire / explosion during thermal runaway events as well as smoke generation that can harm occupants. The high voltage batteries must be able to contain any fire or explosion for 120 minutes after a thermal event and pass bottom impact tests. The current standard is a more strict requirement than older GB 38031-2020 standard. Vertex Auto should be able confirm which standard the high voltage batteries comply with. 

Thank you for the long reply. I didn’t think so much and the car is used just for point A to point B purposes. 

[Sinicker]

On 6/2/2025 at 7:49 PM, Terence2112 said:

Trying to experiment whether can hit 1400km in a full tank and 1 single charge! 

Hello @Terence2112 do we have an update on the real-world range...?? 😁