Nissan has kicked off its festive celebrations by creating a one-off version of its Leaf electric car covered in lights powered by its own regenerative energy.

Dubbed the Nissan ‘Tree’, the car has been fitted with thousands of LED lights in a variety of colours all energised by the act of the car slowing down or braking.

Utilising the car’s regenerative energy systems, it allows the festive light display to go on without the need for a battery connection.

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

The average Nissan Leaf driver regenerates around 744kWh of energy when they drive 11,000 miles (17,700 km) – equivalent to 20 per cent of the overall domestic energy consumption of the average household.

With this, you could power 266 Christmas trees with 700 lights each for an hour, run 297 ovens for one hour or give play five hours of movies on 744 televisions.