Santa shouldn't be the only one with a festive mode of transport, writes Trish Whelan.
Nissan will be dashing through the snow this Christmas with a bright festive Nissan LEAF powered by its own regenerated energy.
To bring Christmas cheer while celebrating the power of regenerative energy creation, the special one-off car sees the LEAF transformed into a Nissan (Christmas) tree. Decked out in a spectacular light display, the Nissan Tree showcases the way the electric car regenerates power when braking or decelerating.
Fitted with thousands of LEDs, shimmery baubles and a reindeer, the car is brighter than Rudolph’s nose. The average Nissan LEAF driver regenerates 744kWh of clean energy if they drive 18,000km, the energy saving is equivalent to 20 per cent of the overall domestic electricity consumption of an average European household.
In 18,000km, a LEAF driver would generate enough energy to power up *266 Christmas trees with 700 incandescent lights for a full hour; *297 ovens for one hour to cook your Christmas dinner; *744 televisions for five hours to watch your favourite Christmas movies; *10,783 houses with 1,000 LED lights for five hours.
Two driving functions provide energy regeneration in the LEAF. The e-Pedal allows the driver to start, accelerate, decelerate and to stop using only the accelerator pedal. It also helps the car to harvest energy via regenerative braking. The driver simples pushes the e-Pedal button to activate this remarkable system. The B mode is a driving function that regenerates energy under braking with drivers using the traditional brake pedal as normal.
