Electric Nissan RE:LEAF wants to be THUNDERBIRD 7

The Nissan RE:LEAF Concept arrives as a 100 per cent emergency response vehicle designed to deliver emergency power to stricken areas.

If you have major problems anywhere in the world, everyone knows you need the Tracey family’s International Rescue, with everything from Thunderbird 1 to Thunderbird 6 ready to tackle any mission on earth (or in space).

But as International Rescue don’t seem to have created anything new since Thunderbird 6, Nissan has come to the recuse with the Nissan RE:LEAF Concept, an emergency response vehicle designed to go anywhere and restore emergency power to disaster-stricken areas. Let’s call it Thunderbird 7.

Obviously based on the regular Nissan LEAF, the RE:Leaf (see what they did with the name?) gets modifications to cope with debris-strewn roads and weatherproof sockets on the exterior powered by its battery bank.

Restoring some power to disaster-stricken areas is vital to minimise the impact, and the RE:LEAF can provide power for stuff like intensive care support, floodlights and tools. In fact, the LEAF has enough power to run a whole house in the UK for six days, so it’s not exactly a token power supply.

It’s a very sensible application of the bi-directional charging ability already in showroom LEAFs which allows owners to both take and give from the grid. Clearly, its application in the RE:LEAF has bigger gains than saving a few bob on the meter.

Helen Perry, Nissan’s Head of Electric Passenger Cars, said:

Through Nissan Intelligent Mobility, we’re constantly exploring ways that electric vehicles can enrich our lives, beyond just zero-emission transportation. Concepts like the RE-LEAF show the possible application of EVs in disaster management and demonstrate that smarter, cleaner technology can help save lives and provide greater resilience for the future.