elsewhere if you need a workhorse to haul things around, you procure a pickup truck to do the job, but Nissan’s Technical Center in Stanfield, Arizona, is not the ‘elsewhere’ and so befitting their engineering background, they made one instead, or more specifically, they torn up the rear quarter of a LEAF, throws in a Frontier bed and turn the once compact electric vehicle into a delightful compact electric truck. so LEAF truck it became. affectionately referred to as ‘Sparky’, this LEAF-crossed-Frontier is used at the 3,050 acres Nissan proving ground for hauling supplies and people around the property, which is the coolest thing anyone could have done. the project is spearheaded by Roland Schellenberg of Nissan Durability & Reliability, whom explains:
I needed a project for a team building activity so we can bring the team together. We had a need for a truck. Something to drive around, a shop truck.
with that in mind, Schellenberg’s colleague Arnold Moulinet started brainstorming on how to transform a LEAF into a truck, taking his work home and worked till wee hours conceiving designs that would work. the result is what you see here: a cute little truck that’s essentially three-quarter LEAF and a bit of the Frontier, or a Frontier bed, to be more specific. and oh, the backend of the cab was sourced from a Titan truck, complete with a working power window, and Sparky also has a redesigned brake and parking lights for some show-stopping lighting effects. don’t you just love engineers? especially when you have plentiful of them who are raring to tinker with things? check out a video after the break to see this little guy in action.
