Glow-in-the-dark Nissan Leaf drives on glowing Smart Highway

Few days earlier, Nissan showed off the first car with glow-in-the-dark car paint on a Nissan Leaf EV. Now, the glow-in-the-dark Leaf has become the first such car to drive on the world’s first glow-in-the-dark motorway in Oss, Netherlands. The Smart Highway project was conceived by designer Daan Roosegaarde to help guide drivers in the dark, while saving energy otherwise may have been used in street lighting. A 600-metre stretch of the N329 highway was upgraded with these glowing lines, that absorb light during the day and glows for eight hours at night.

"The Glowing Lines on The Smart Highway replace standard street lighting to reduce electrical energy consumption. To have the world's first glow-in-the-dark car on our road is a privilege and it mirrors goals that we want to achieve with our Smart Highway," says Daan Roosegaarde.

The road's photo-luminescent strips complement the Nissan LEAF's innovative finish. The spray-applied coating absorbs UV energy and other visible radiation during daylight hours and glows for between eight and ten hours when the sun goes down.

The glowing car paint is already available along with glow-in-the-dark car wraps from Nissan. The bespoke, ultraviolet-energised paint created especially for Nissan is unique thanks to its secret formula. It contains a solid, odourless Rare Earth Metal called Strontium Aluminate.