Made in Japan: Nissan makes green ice-cream

What happens when an Englishman and an Australian drive an ice-cream van through downtown Yokohama, unleashing delicious frozen treats on an unsuspecting Japanese public?

The lawyers couldn’t convince Nissan to tempt fate, so it's tale that will never be told… But the story of green ice-cream is certainly worth scrutinising.

Traditionally, your options were limited to pistachio or mint if you wanted green ice-cream. But Nissan has other ideas with its novel solar-powered, zero-emission EV van of frigid pleasures.

The idea for Nissan's carbon-neutral ice-cream van was germinated in the frosty northern reaches of the UK – not somewhere you'd equate with the consumption of copious amounts of iced-confection.

Mackie's of Scotland runs a sustainable dairy farm powered by renewable energy – solar and wind for the most part. The Scottish farm wanted a vehicle that would cut localised pollution and avoid the noxious fumes of an idling engine or – worse – a decrepit generator.

In other words, Mackie's wanted an ice-cream retail solution that was as carbon-neutral as its farming processes.

The answer came in the form of a customised Nissan e-NV200 electric van.

This author was crestfallen when it was discovered the ice cream contained within the van was Ben & Jerry's – not Mackie's of Scotland. Because its haggis-laced ice-cream is apparently one of the world's gastronomic wonders.

But the forlorn feeling was quickly replaced with surprise when the pioneering small business concept's clever features, which are designed to reduce its CO2 output, were examined.

By the time we were kicked out of Nissan's global headquarters in Yokohama for chowing down on chocolate ice-cream, we had already engineered a petition to stock Bubble-o-Bill, Paddle Pop and Eskimo Pie ice creams in similar concept for Australia.

Oh, and there's another change that needs to be made: bring back the ice-cream van jingle!

The classically eerie siren-song that has beguiled children for decades is gone, replaced by the Nissan e-NV200 van's digital bell, which blasts out data pulses to let those nearby know it’s frozen sugar time by way of a mapping app called What3Words.

The Nissan e-NV200 can drive for 200km before requiring a recharge of its 40kWh battery, and compared to conventional ice-cream vans that use diesel engines, it can cut CO2 output to zero.

But the kicker is how the van's ancillaries – namely the freezers, drinks fridge and soft-serve machine – are powered. In the past these would be powered via an idling combustion engine or a generator, neither are particularly efficient.

But thanks to recycled (aka second life) Nissan LEAF EV battery cells, everything runs on electricity here.

There's even solar panels on the roof that will charge the repurposed Nissan battery cells (called ROAM units) to full in around three hours. There are two ROAM battery packs on board this Nissan e-NV200 ice-cream can, with a combined 1.4kWh capacity.

The idea is that these ROAM units could power a number of different devices in future, from power tools for tradies, to coffee machines for baristas and even homes.

We're still yet to try the Scottish delicacy that is Mackie's ice-cream – haggis flavour, thanks! – but concepts like the Nissan e-NV200 ice-cream machine are certainly not pie-in-the-sky creations.

Consumers' purchasing choices are changing and demand for low-emission and carbon-neutral products continues to increase, from plant-based meat to EVs and recycled ocean-waste furniture.

With its EV powertrain, second-life battery storage and photovoltaic energy generation, the Nissan concept has the potential to make the transition to reality, and could even deliver energy back into the grid in ideal conditions.

As emissions regulations continue to put the squeeze on diesel and even petrol vehicles and some major European and Asian cities plan to ban combustion engines over the next few decades, vehicles like this will become a necessity.

It is lamentable that when this happens the classic ice-cream van melody may disappear (along with our slavering sub-conscious response, a la Pavlov's Dogs).

But if it means a cleaner, brighter future for the next-generation of soft-serve gluttons, surely that's a good thing?