Leaf lights up Christmas as Nissan celebrates 250,000th vehicle

Nissan Motor Manufacturing UK (NMMUK) is celebrating the production milestone of 250,000 Leaf vehicles by using one to provide the sparkle for its Christmas display at the Sunderland Plant.

The lights on the 32-foot Christmas tree and its shimmering reindeer are being powered by the Leaf’s battery, using V2X technology.

“Passing a quarter of a million Nissan Leaf is a tremendous milestone, and demonstrates the electric vehicle manufacturing expertise we have built up at our plant over the past decade,” Nissan Sunderland plant manufacturing vice president Alan Johnson says.

“This year we have completely electrified the plant’s line-up with the new versions of Qashqai and Juke launched, so lighting up the Christmas tree with our original EV is an appropriate way to end 2022.”

The Nissan Leaf’s vehicle-to-grid capability (V2X) puts energy management back in the hands of the owner by turning their vehicle into a mobile energy hub. Drivers can store electricity in their vehicle’s battery and feed it to the grid, their building, or their Christmas Tree, when needed.

The technology allows electric vehicles to be fully integrated into the electricity grid and help improve grid capability to handle renewable power as well as managing energy more efficiently.

The Nissan Leaf, built in Sunderland for more than a decade, was the world’s first mass-market electric vehicle. The Nissan Qashqai, is now offered with Nissan’s e-POWER system, a first for the company in Europe, while its B-segment stablemate, the Nissan Juke, is now equipped with an advanced hybrid powertrain in Europe.

In 2021 Nissan’s Sunderland Plant was announced as the home of EV36ZERO, a £1bn flagship electric vehicle manufacturing ecosystem bringing together electric vehicles, renewable energy and battery production.