Nissan: Here’s to the next 250k electric vehicles

Nissan celebrated the festive season by using a Nissan LEAF electric vehicle to power the company’s Christmas display at its factory in Washington.

The stunt was to celebrate the landmark of producing 250,000 of the pioneering cars in the UK.

But already, the Japan-based company has its sights set on the next quarter of a million as it enters 2023.

At the festive lights turn on, Nissan showcased the LEAF’s ability to act as a mobile power plant -the lights on the 32-foot Christmas tree and surrounding reindeer being powered by the vehicle’s battery, using V2X technology.

Alan Johnson, vice president of manufacturing at Nissan Sunderland, said: “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.

“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 a spectacular and appropriate way to end 2022.”

The Nissan LEAF’s vehicle-to-grid capability highlights the way energy management is 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 even their Christmas Tree, when needed.

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

Built in Sunderland for more than a decade, the Nissan LEAF was the world’s first mass-market electric vehicle.

The Nissan Qashqai, the record-breaking original crossover, 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 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.

And the company has the intention of putting electrical vehicles at the heart of its Sunderland production both in 2023 and in the year beyond.