Nissan turns Leaf into a Christmas tree on wheels

This Nissan Leaf takes the Christmas livery to a whole new level

In about two weeks, Christmas will finally be here once more. As such, most people all over the world are putting the finishing touches on their Christmas decorations. That’s unless you happen to be living in the Philippines where the celebrations start as early September, but I digress.

To help feel people the Christmas spirit a bit more, Nissan dressed up a Leaf electric vehicle with thousands of LED holiday lights. Effectively, they have turned it into a mobile Christmas tree. More interestingly, however, the bright Christmas lights aren’t plugged into an outlet or socket somewhere. Instead, they are powered by the EV’s regenerative braking system. Considering the amount of Christmas lights the Leaf is powering, its regenerative braking system sure reclaims a lot of energy from the road.

According to Nissan, driving the Leaf for about 18,000 kilometers will generate around 744 kWh of clean energy. That energy is equivalent to 20% of the overall domestic electricity consumption of an average (European) household. The 744 kWh of energy generated would also be enough to power up 266 Christmas trees with 700 incandescent lights for a full hour, 297 ovens for one hour, 744 televisions for five hours, or 10,783 houses with 1,000 LED lights for five hours.

“Santa shouldn’t be the only one with a festive mode of transport. We wanted to make the Nissan LEAF more fun at this time of year whilst driving home a very important message. We hope this custom-made vehicle inspires people about the benefits of regenerative energy. After nearly ten years since LEAF was first introduced in Europe, Nissan continues to be fully focused on providing consumers a more sustainable lifestyle through electric mobility,” said Helen Perry, head of electric vehicles for Nissan Europe.

With Nissan planning to launch the Leaf in the Philippines next year, you can probably do this to yours if you do get one. While you're at it, why not add a parol for good measure?