Citroën UK has supplied a fleet of new Citroën Relay vans to City Electrical Factors (CEF) – the UK’s expert supplier of electrical products and services. CEF has added over 40 Relay L3H2 Enterprise panel vans to its nationwide delivery fleet. The vehicles are based at CEF stores around the country to cover local and long distance deliveries.
Citroën UK is proud to have supplied CEF with a fleet of Relay panel vans. The 42 new Citroën Relay vans will make deliveries to over 50,000 CEF customers – as well as deliveries for CEF’s online business – involving both urban and long-distance logistics. Established in 1951, privately owned CEF has operations around the world, with the new fleet of Relay vans supplied to support its UK network.
CEF chose the Relay L3H2 Enterprise, which provides over 1.9m of standing headroom inside the vehicle, making it easier for CEF’s drivers to work inside the van. The low floor height was also an attraction for CEF, providing easy access from outside the vehicle. All models are 3,500kg gross vehicle weight Relay 35 models powered by the Citroën brand’s BlueHDi 130 engine* with six-speed manual transmission. These models can carry a substantial payload of up to 1,485kg*.
The Relay Enterprise panel van’s generous specification includes air conditioning, cruise control with programmable speed limiter, rear parking sensors, perimetric alarm, Touchscreen Audio Pack with DAB radio and an MP3 player plus steering mounted controls, 5-inch colour touchscreen, integrated satellite navigation, Bluetooth® hands free functionality and a USB socket. This is in addition to the standard Relay specification, which includes a full steel bulkhead, electric front windows, tinted glass, heated twin lens door mirrors, height adjustable steering wheel and electronic stability control.
The new Relays carry CEF’s new company livery and are also equipped with the Lightfoot fleet management system, giving drivers instant feedback on their driving style to help them make the most of the Relay’s low fuel consumption, while also reducing unnecessary wear and tear on the vehicles and encouraging them to be safer drivers. A small dashboard mounted display uses green, orange and amber LEDs to inform the driver how efficiently he or she is driving and provides a score at the end of each journey. The system supports CEF’s safety-conscious approach and helped one of the company’s drivers win the What Van? magazine ‘Driver of the Year’ title in 2018.
All the vans are fitted with a 70mph speed limiter. CEF has specified reversing cameras and “white noise” reversing alarms to minimise environmental intrusion and reduce accident risk.
Driver welfare are safety are important issues for CEF. “We specify air conditioning because it helps to clear screens in damp conditions and keeps our drivers cool in hot weather”, says Ian Thorn, CEF Fleet Operations Manager, “We choose satellite navigation because it helps our drivers find customer site delivery locations more easily as well as reducing mileage. The Relay’s Enterprise trim includes both and our funding partner Arval suggested that we look at the Citroën.
“We encourage our drivers to take responsibility, and put stickers in our vans to remind them about safety checks and provide servicing reminders. We also insist on interim services with the current long service intervals, mainly to check for brake wear.”
Martin Gurney, Groupe PSA UK’s Fleet Director, commented: “Traditional Citroën Relay virtues – low floor height for ease of access, standing headroom in the H2 variant, as well as low total cost of ownership and the driver-friendly Enterprise specification have clearly helped us win this order with City Electrical Factors. CEF is a customer with specific requirements who we are delighted to be working with. We feel that CEF’s safety ethos and driver-focused approach makes the Relay the perfect vehicle for the job.”
