The all-electric Citroen e-Relay is on sale in the UK now, priced from £49,335 including the government’s plug-in van grant.
Now, every model in the French firm’s commercial vehicle range has an electric option, giving Citroen rivals for everything from the all-new Renault Kangoo to the Mercedes eSprinter.
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The Citroen e-Relay shares its mechanicals with the Peugeot e-Boxer. It comes with the same choice of battery packs and an electric motor driving the front wheels, developing 121bhp and 350Nm of torque. That’s enough to haul a maximum payload of 1,150kg and reach a top speed of 75mph.
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The entry-level model is powered by a 37kWh battery pack, which provides a maximum range of 73 miles. However, for an extra £5,750, buyers can upgrade to a 70kWh battery, which increases the van’s maximum range to 139 miles.
Both options support type 2 three-phase charging as standard. using a 22kW wallbox, the smaller battery can be fully recharged in six hours, while the larger unit takes 12. When connected to a 50kW rapid charger, both variants will also take on an 80 percent recharge in around an hour.
In its conventional form, the e-Relay is a three-seat, 5,413mm-long panel van. However, Citroen also offers two longer body styles (measuring 5,998mm and 6,363mm), a chassis cab model and a window van with an extra row of seats in the rear.
L3 models are priced from £55,085, while the largest L4 variants start from £59,225. The window van is exclusively available in L4 body length, and has a starting price of £59,750. Chassis cab models only come in L3 and are priced from £52,010. all of those figures include the government’s financial support package.
The largest panel van’s load bay has a capacity of 15 cubic metres, and it’s long enough to carry items measuring up to 4,070mm. Both of those figures [are identical to] the diesel Citroen Relay, as the battery pack is mounted under the van’s floor.
The e-Relay is only available in Citroen’s enterprise specification, which comes as conventional with rear vehicle parking sensors, an alarm system, air conditioning and a five-inch infotainment screen with a DAB radio and built-in satellite navigation.
The diesel van’s manual gear stick has been swapped for a push-button automatic gear selector, with options for Drive, Neutral and Reverse. Citroen has also fitted a dedicated rear-view mirror, which displays the van’s remaining battery charge level and range.
What does the new Citroen e-Relay have to beat? check out our list of the best electric vans on sale now…