Nissan cleans up London with world's first car-powered graffiti

Nissan is highlighting London's battle with air quality by using the 100 percent electric Nissan Leaf - the world's best-selling electric vehicle (EV) - to power a striking piece of street art in Waterloo, London, that depicts the Capital's iconic skyline. The car manufacturer commissioned Reverse Graffiti artist, Moose - the founder of his field - to create the mass scale mural.

The artwork - which is on show in the subway on Station's Approach, Waterloo - includes a host of London's most famous landmarks: Buckingham Palace, The Shard, Battersea Power Station and The London Eye, to name just a few. Produced to highlight the growing issue of poor air quality across Europe's biggest cities, it aims to showcase how much cleaner they could be if more people adopted electric vehicles.

In a world first, the jet washer used to clean the wall was powered by the Nissan Leaf via the Leaf to Home equipment - a portable device that converts electricity from the car's battery to provide as much as two days worth of power to a household on a single charge.

Before the artwork made its way onto the wall, Moose sketched the skyline by hand before creating stencils that pieced together to produce the finished artwork, standing some 2.5 metres tall and 10 metres wide.

"I've been using reverse graffiti for fifteen years now, in fact I named it. My whole ethos is about highlighting the amount of pollution we endure daily using a very positive harmless method that never fails to ask questions about what we accept and what we shouldn't accept in our environment. For these reasons I was keen to be involved in this project," explained Moose, who originates from Leeds.

Jean-Pierre Diernaz, EV Director, Nissan Europe, added, "This piece of art is a striking call to action that air quality is one of the biggest issues facing the citizens and visitors of Europe's largest cities today. It is a reminder that electric vehicles don't have an exhaust to emit the kind of air pollution which has stained the wall Moose has created his piece on."