Nissan has turned its all-electric Leaf hatchback into a Christmas tree, powering an extensive array of lights from the car’s regenerative braking energy systems.

The one-off vehicle utilises the manufacturer’s e-Pedal and B mode to power the model’s ‘spectacular light display’, including thousands of LEDs.

Helen Perry, head of electric vehicles for Nissan Europe, said: “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.”

The difference between the two regenerative braking systems mentioned is that while the e-Pedal harvests energy from the movement of the car during braking or deceleration, feeding it back to the batteries, B mode is a driving function that regenerates energy when using the traditional brake pedal as normal.

The Nissan Tree was created as a means to showcase the benefits of regenerative energy, emphasising that the average Leaf driver regenerates 744kWh of clean energy if they drive 11,000 miles – equivalent to 20 per cent of the overall domestic electricity consumption of an average household.

In fact, according to the manufacturer, Leaf drivers would generate enough energy to power up 266 Christmas trees with 700 incandescent lights for ‘a full hour of joy’, 744 televisions for five hours or 10,783 houses with 1,000 LED lights for five hours.

Perry added: “After nearly ten years since Leaf was first introduced in Europe, Nissan continues to be fully focused on providing customers a more sustainable lifestyle through electric mobility.”