A Nissan Leaf is providing the sparkle for Nissan Sunderland Plant’s Christmas display to celebrate the production of 250,000 of the pioneering electric vehicle in the UK.

Demonstrating the ability of the Leaf to act as a mobile power plant, the lights on the 32-foot Christmas tree and its shimmering reindeer are being powered by the vehicle’s battery, using V2X (or V2X-MAS TREE) technology.

Alan Johnson, Vice President of Manufacturing at Nissan Sunderland Plant, 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 (sometimes called vehicle-to-building or vehicle-to-everything - 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.