Best cars for electricians

Best Vans for Electricians

I’ve always considered an electrician as quite a dangerous profession. I think it’s the association between cutting wires and the iconic filmography of agonizing over which wire to cut to defuse the bomb! Anyway, anything that involves working with electricity isn’t exactly without risk. I was keen to find out more about the day to day life of an electrician in order to develop this list of best vans for electricians. So here is a quick day in the life of an electrician. I’ve also included a cuppa counter to tally the number of cups of tea our electrician drinks throughout the day (it’s impressive but hardly surprising).

A Day in the Life of an Electrician

A 7:30 wake up call gives our electrician enough time to freshen up for the day. Grabbing the paper they enjoy a cup of tea and catch up on the latest news. A bacon sandwich should fuel the fun until lunch. Another tea poured into a travel mug and our electrician sets off on their day.

Cuppa Counter: 2

Job One

8:30 Working on the site of a newly renovated block of flats our electrician heads inside to assess the situation. Speaking to the site manager they build a clear idea of what needs to be done. Heading back to their vehicle to collect all of the necessary tools. The job is to wire each room in each flat for the block. No mean feat. In fact, just the thought makes our electrician thirsty. Offering the other traders a drink our electrician sips their tea while marking out the walls. Some drilling later and this time the plumber had made tea. Sitting down to talk about the job they end up plotting a practical joke on the kitchen fitters apprentice.

Cuppa Counter: 4

12:30 Two and a half flats wired up and ready to go. Three more to do, but a bit of lunch is in order. Pre made ham and salad sandwiches plus a bag of crisps washed down with…. yes you guessed it, more tea! A few biscuits sneak in this time too. Finally, the kitchen fitters apprentice is going to the local hardware shop and asks if our electrician needs any supplies. Our electrician gives him a small list of wire strippers, fish tape and 3 sky hooks. Trying not to giggle our electrician can’t wait to see the reaction of the apprentice when he realizes that sky hooks don’t exist.

Cuppa counter: 5

1:30 While our electrician is finishing off wiring for flat number 3 the apprentice arrives back and duly tells our electrician that there is no such thing as sky hooks and laughs. He knows he’s been pranked. They have a friendly laugh and then our electrician packs up this job to finish off tomorrow. Making a cuppa for the road it’s off to a couple of domestic jobs this afternoon before home.

Job Two

2:15 Driving across the town to a residential address of a couple who need a new set of lighting fittings put up. We listen to an 80’s classics playlist and sing a long…… badly. We arrive feeling pumped. The light fittings are very unusual, not my taste at all but that’s beside the point. Taking down the old fittings and putting up the new ones takes about 45 minutes for our pro electrician. We are offered a cup of tea by the homeowners and of course, we duly accept. The cuppa counter is out of control!

Cuppa counter: 6

Job Three

3:50 Up next, fitting some fancy new LED lighting in a kitchen re-fit. We’ve barely stepped through the door before we are offered another cup of tea! These bar lights are a little tricky so the job takes a little longer than expected and the second cup of tea is needed to finish up. It’s 4:30 pm and time to head home to do the paperwork……probably over another cup of tea!

Cuppa counter: 8

Essential features in an electricians vehicle

Our electrician needs a few essential features to keep them going through their day. Tea is of course on top of this list. But features like Navigation, phone connectivity for those 80’s playlists and plenty of room for the range tools needed to do the job right. Not only that, it needs to look the part. A lot of tradespeople choose to drive vans that they can have sign-written. A great way to advertise and they can drive up to the construction site without looking out of place.

Top 5 vans for electricians

Taking what we’ve learnt about our electrician we have developed this list of the top vans for electricians.

Vauxhall Movano 

With a multitude of cab choices and the choice of front or rear wheel drive, the award winning Movano had to make the list. Convenient loading with rear doors that open to 180 degrees. Vans aren’t renowned for being comfortable drives but the Movano certainly offers a comfortable drive with flexible maneuvering. All Movano models include Bluetooth® and USB connectivity as standard, perfect for pairing with a smart phone for those 80’s playlists.[vc_single_image image=”58532″ img_size=”article-image”]

Citroen Relay 

Choose between three heights and four lengths to suit your needs with the flexible Relay. Loading is a breeze with rear doors opening up to 270 degrees! Equipped with high mounted rear and day time lights plus wide rubbing strips to minimize the chances of an accident. Along with top safety features and optimum fuel efficiency it was a must to feature on this list. The infotainment system is great too. Bluetooth hands-free kit, rear view camera, and downhill speed control system. Plus Connecting Box (Bluetooth hands-free kit and USB port) right from the most basic audio option. As an added bonus The Citroën Relay’s extendable writing panel gives a support for your purchase orders, smartphone or tablet without having to leave the cab. Just like the office too.

Ford Transit Connect

A good old reliable, the Ford Transit is the definition of tradesman van. Available in two wheelbase options allowing you to choose the model with the space most suited to your needs. There is a separate cargo door at the rear and a sliding side load door for easy cargo loading and unloading. When it comes to infotainment the SYNC 3 boasts enhanced voice commands and more functionality. Pinch and swipe gestures common with smart phones operate the touch screen SYNC 3. Featuring AppLink, Apple Car Play and Android Audio for those playlists.

Nissan NV200 

The Nissan NV200 has 4.2m³ of load space and with wide-opening rear doors and one or two sliding side doors, loading is swift and easy for our electrician. Our electrician gets to take the office with them in the Nissan NV200. Stay connected with integrated Sat-Nav and Bluetooth connectivity to Android and iPhone. A really excellent feature is the fold-down passenger seat which creates a handy desk space for invoicing and paperwork on the go. Allowing our electrician to maximize on their time by bringing their desk with them.

Peugeot Partner

Somewhere in between the mid-sized expert and the tiny Bipper the Peugeot Partner is the perfect sized commercial van for electricians. With two different size options and the choice of additional seating it’s worth noting that while there isn’t as much load space in this option as some of the others on the list. However, despite this there is still plenty of space for materials in either size the Peugeot Partner. We recommend moving up to SE to get cruise control and a Multi-Flex passenger seat and a sliding side door for the load area. On Professional models there’s an excellent touch screen control console, DAB radio and a TomTom GO5000 sat-nav with a separate screen. Every day will be a good day in the life of our electrician with one of these brilliant and reliable vans by their side. Which one will you choose?

Visit our Learning Centre (link) to read our impartial reviews on these (and other) vans