Nissan celebrates 250,000 EV production milestone with Leaf-powered Christmas lights

Nissan has commemorated the production of its 250,000th electric vehicle at its Sunderland plant with a Christmas light display powered entirely by the firm’s Leaf EV.

The Nissan Leaf has been built in Sunderland for more than a decade, during which time it gained the title as the world’s first mass-market electric vehicle. During that period it has evolved and now incorporates a greater range than ever before, delivering up to 239 miles between charges.

To celebrate the production milestone, Nissan has created a special Christmas light display at the Sunderland plant powered entirely by a Leaf’s on-board energy supply.

Using vehicle-to-grid technology, the Leaf is able to use its power reserves to power the display. However, Nissan says that this shows the additional functionality that comes with an EV, with drivers able to store electricity in a vehicle’s battery before feeding it back to the grid, their homes or – in this instance – a Christmas tree when required.

Alan Johnson, vice president of manufacturing at Nissan Sunderland Plant, said: “Passing a quarter of a million Nissan Leafs 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 display has seen lights applied to a 32-foot Christmas tree and its reindeer – with everything powered by the Leaf it’s connected to.

In 2021, Nissan announced that the Sunderland plant would be the new home of EV36ZERO, the firm’s £1bn electric manufacturing ecosystem that looks to blend electric vehicles, renewable energy and battery production into one site.