One of the North East's biggest employers is marking a major manufacturing milestone by using one of its flagship electric vehicles to power the lights on its Christmas tree.

Nissan in Sunderland is celebrating the production of 250,000 of its pioneering electric vehicle, the LEAF, in the UK. 

By using the vehicle's V2X technology, Nissan is using a LEAF as a mobile power plant to provide electricity to the lights on the plant's 32-foot Christmas tree outside the plant.

Read more: The role that this North East factory will make in Nissan's electric vehicles

The Nissan LEAF’s vehicle-to-grid capability (sometimes called vehicle-to-building or vehicle-to-everything - V2X) turns 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.

Alan Johnson, Vice President 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.

The Northern Echo:

“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 has been built in Sunderland for more than a decade and was the world's first mass-market electric vehicle.

The future of jobs in the North East may well benefit from the introduction of electric vehicles as the UK Government looks to phase out diesel and petrol vehicles - the last of which will be sold new in 2030.

Last month permission was granted to build a new lithium refinery in Teesside - the UK's first - where it's hoped that one of the main components of electric vehicle batteries can be created using raw materials sourced entirely from the UK, and creating thousands more supply chain jobs in the process.

After questions had been raised about Nissan's future in Sunderland in the wake of Brexit and as the company scaled down European operations, doubts have been quashed as the Japanese firm has committed to investment in the North East plant.

READ NEXT:

If you want to read more great stories, why not subscribe to your Northern Echo for as little as £1.25 a week. Click here

It was announced last year that Nissan were hoping to create 400 new jobs at their Sunderland plant as they developed new hybrid and electric versions of their Qashqai and Juke models to be manufactured in the UK.

There are still various open roles at the factory, and anyone interested in a career there can visit careersatnissan.co.uk for information.