Watch as Nissan Sunderland plant celebrates building its 250,000th all-electric Leaf by lighting up Christmas

The plant has been building the all-electric family car since 2012.

To mark the 250,000 milestone – and demonstrate the Leaf’s ability to act as a mobile power plant – one of the cars is being used to power the lights on the factory’s 32-foot Christmas tree and its shimmering reindeer, via its battery.

Alan Johnson, Vice President Manufacturing at Nissan Sunderland Plant, said building its 250,000th Leaf was a testament to the plant’s workforce and an indication of the growing popularity of its growing electric vehicle (EV) range.

“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,” he said.

“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 LEAF’s vehicle-to-grid capability (sometimes called vehicle-to-building or vehicle-to-everything) lets owners turn their vehicle into a mobile energy hub.

Drivers can store electricity in their car’s battery and then feed it into the grid, their building - or their Christmas tree – when needed.

Senior supervisor Christine Jackson said: “It is a really proud day for everyone here to achieve 250,000 Leaf.

"The journey has been massive for us and a huge learning curve.”

Today’s (Thursday, December 15) announcement is the second major milestone for the Sunderland factory when it comes to the pioneering model – two years ago the plant was responsible for building the 500,000th Leaf produced worldwide.

Nissan announced in 2021 that its Sunderland plant would be building a new electric vehicle and joining forces with Sunderland City Council and battery manufacturer Envision to launch EV36ZERO, a £1billion flagship manufacturing project bringing together vehicles, renewable energy and battery production.

Work is under way to create a massive new Envision factory on the International Advanced Manufacturing Park being developed near Nissan – and a ceremony was held last week to mark the official start of construction.

Nissan is currently recruiting for various positions at the factory. Anyone interested can visit careersatnissan.co.uk for more information.