Nissan LEAF glows in the dark as Nissan highlight solar energy

Nissan has revealed a LEAF EV with ‘glow in the dark’ treatment as they highlight how cheap a LEAF EV is to run with power from solar panels.

We’re not entirely sure the idea of cars that glow at night is a good one, but it’s how Nissan are choosing to showcase the benefits of running a LEAF EV using electricity generated from solar panels.

Nissan has worked with inventor Hamish Scott – creator of STARPATH, a spray-applied coating that absorbs UV energy during the day and emits a glow at night – to create a LEAF that looks like a ghost car when the lights go out.

The reason the car glows at night is that the coating contains Strontium Aluminate, a chemically and biologically inert rare earth powder that is a photoluminescent phosphor capable of absorbing UV light and giving it back in the form of a green and aqua glow for up to ten hours. It’s the same stuff used to make glow in the dark toys.

Glowing wraps for cars have been available for some time, but this is the first time a car manufacturer has gone this route, and Nissan has done it to highlight how LEAF owners can use the savings they make on fuel to invest in solar panels to make running their LEAF even cheaper.

Of course, none of this takes in to account the huge additional investment the LEAF is in the first place compared to a comparable ICE car, or the cost of the solar panel array, but it allows Nissan to say that the LEAF normally costs about 2p a mile to charge, and nothing if you use solar power, with a LEAF owner claiming:

Running the Nissan LEAF costs a sixth of the amount we’d pay to run a diesel or petrol car.

Overall, we are probably using 25% less electricity thanks to our solar panels and it’s a fantastic experience to be able to drive the LEAF using electricity that’s been produced completely for free.

If it makes them happy…