Living Electric: Jetour T2 i-DM

The Jetour T2 is a highly successful vehicle in South Africa, alongside the T1. In a short space of time, the sales of these models has firmly placed the brand in the top 10 selling brands locally.

In June 2026, it held the number 9 spot with a total of 2054 sales. Not without controversy though, as the T2 has a payload of 375kg for its size, considering the Suzuki Jimny’s is 340kg, as pointed out by Cars.co.za, which you can read here.

In April 2026, Jetour launched the plug-in hybrid version of these models, the T1 i-DM at R689 900 and the T2 i-DM  for R779 900. Recharged received the T2 PHEV on test recently for our Living Electric series. The payload on the T2 PHEV is 300kgs.

Jetour T2 i-DM: At a glance

• 265kW of output and 610Nm of torque
• 1.5L petrol engine; 2WD
• 18.4kWh battery with around 90km of range (NEDC)
• 1200km range from a single tank and charge
• 30-80% charge in 27 minutes
• Top speed: 200km/h
• Claimed consumption of 1.3L/100km

1. Who should buy this car?

The Jetour T2 PHEV is for adventure enthusiasts and those who want to go electric one day but want to take baby steps. It is suited for couples, young families or retirees who want to drive long distances. Important to note is the 300kg payload, which would include adults, kids and luggage that gets loaded onto the vehicle.

To state the obvious though, the Jetour brand is for people who want to buy Land Rover, especially the Defender line, but a budget-friendly version of it. But the Chery on top is that The Chery Group has an agreement with JLR in China to build these cars and they are leveraging access to by bringing Defender-looking vehicles to SA.

2. Range Reality

The Jetour T2 PHEV has a combined range of 1200km, according to the brand. This is from its fully charged 18.4kWh battery that has around 90km of range (NEDC) and from its 70L tank. PHEVs tend to have the best of both worlds – plenty of range, and enough electric power to work together to give you the most efficient drive. There is certainly no range anxiety on this vehicle.

I am not a fan of driving a PHEV in pure electric mode as you would have to constantly charge it daily to get those low consumption figures. It’s not worth the effort. When used in hybrid mode, the car does the thinking for you and can you can drive efficiently without over thinking it. The battery indicator seems to stay around 70% as it constantly recharges as you driving.

Interesting to note, Jetour did not use the Worldwide Harmonised Light Vehicle Test Procedure (WLTP) figures for its range, a metric that is widely used in South Africa. Instead, it quotes New European Driving Cycle (NEDC) figures, which according to reports are outdated and overly optimistic as WLTP factors higher speeds, dynamic accelerations and optional vehicle equipment into account, which overall is a more accurate representation of everyday driving.

3. Home vs Public Charging

The Jetour T2 PHEV has the following claimed speeds for charging:

• 50kW DC Charging: 30-80% in 27 minutes
• 6.6kW AC Charging: 30-100% in over 180 minutes

As mentioned, when driving in hybrid mode, the car remains on 70% battery. I had to put it into EV mode to run it down deliberately, something I don’t like doing.

I ended up charging it from 69% to 94%, which was 4.6kWh of the battery. The car went from 60km to 81km during that time.

I charged it at a DC fast charger, which costs R7.35 per kWh, so the 4.6kWh came to R33.81. However, to fully charge the 18.4kWh battery from empty, this is what you’re looking at:

I don’t think this is a cost you need to worry about, as you are more than likely not going to run the battery down to empty. If you drive it in hybrid mode, then it will remain on 70% for the most part.

4. Living with the tech

The car is kitted with the latest technologies and the cabin feels modern. There’s a huge 15.6-inch infotainment display and another 10.25-inch driver instrument cluster behind the steering wheel. There’s Android Auto and CarPlay support wirelessly that worked seamlessly, and both the front and passengers have access to USB-C and USB-A ports, so there’s a total of four.

The Sony 12-speaker sound system is a great touch, voice controls, plus there is 50W wireless phone charging if you need it. I loved how easy it was to adjust to without having to fiddle with additional cables. There’s also a 540-degree camera system.

But the downside is that everything like your main settings are all on the touchscreen. For example, it took way too long than necessary to figure out how to adjust the side mirrors as it’s hidden in the touchscreen menu. That said, there are physical buttons for dual climate control in the front, fan speeds, switching to air conditioning, air circulation etc. I find it difficult to use touchscreens for this.

There’s also a built-in digital video recorder, which apparently will record when there is an accident. This is what I’ve read online but I’ve not (fortunately) had to test that.

5. Accessing driving data

You can see your driving data, which has sections for energy management, charge/discharge management and energy consumption. During my test period, I averaged around 7.9L/100km. Since this is not a full BEV, you don’t really need extensive data like this, as long as you are driving efficiently, which the hybrid motor does exceptionally well.

Energy management lets you see your EV range, what percentage of the battery is left, and then you can adjust other settings. This includes energy recovery level (strong seems to be the default, hence 70% battery), battery mode which is either smart or compulsory power saving, and your target battery saving – this was set to 70%, which makes sense on the stats. You can also toggle EV or HEV mode here.

6. City driving vs. Open road

The T2 PHEV is great for urban roads, it takes off quietly, it’s fast and makes for fantastic stop start traffic situations, thanks to its hybrid engine and the EV part kicking in when it needs to. I found highway stretches to be also be comfortable but at higher speeds, you can hear the wind if windy and it feels like the car struggles a little when you are overtaking a higher speeds.

It’s a large, comfortable vehicle even on the passenger side; it feels premium with good quality finishes. The car has ventilated seats, which is great for summer road trips, though I did find it odd that it didn’t include heated seats – usually I find it the other way around.

For those who want to go long distance or cross country trips, the boot size is 580L as standard, while the passenger seats fold flat down and yield 1494L of space. I did an airport run with my sister’s family, and it comfortably fit 3 adults, 3 kids, 2 medium bags and 1 large suitcase.

Other comforts worth noting was the electronic seat adjustment on the driver side, while the passenger has a manual control, dual climate controls, various driving modes to suit the environment (normal, sport, snow, mud, sand, rock, eco), a 12V charger in the boot, a side step to climb in since the car is so large, and a full size spare wheel.

7. Long-term view

Load-shedding readiness: There is no vehicle-to-load (V2L) feature available on the T2 PHEV as expected. I’m beginning to think the Geely E5 PHEV was a rare exception for a PHEV to include it, though I have yet to spend time in BYD PHEVs.

Maintenance: The Jetour T2 PHEV comes with a 7 year/75 000km service plan, a 7 year/200 000km warranty or a 10 year/1 000 000km warranty (yes, a million) for the first registered owner, and the industry standard 8 year/160 000km battery warranty.

8. Recharged Verdict

Buy it…  if you want a car with a strong presence on the road, love taking road trips, need to tow things.
Skip it… if family is larger than the combined 300kg with luggage or want to 4×4.