Nissan Leaf: A glow-in-the-dark electric car

Amid concerns that the silence of electric cars makes them a danger to pedestrians, a risk compounded at night, Nissan has used a paint created for phosphorescent cycle paths, to produce a glow-in-the-dark Leaf electric car.

Starpath glow-in-the-dark cycle lanes

Most cyclists would settle for cycle lanes that are direct and well-maintained, but the latest thinking is that they should glow in the dark.

Starpath is a new surface treatment for paths that absorbs energy from the sun during the day and then releases it at night, causing the particles embedded in the ground to glow like a carpet of stars. Starpath uses strontium aluminate, a chemically and biologically inert material with photoluminescent qualities that can emit ten times the light of existing phosphorescent paint.

British company Pro-Teq claims Starpath offers an environmentally-friendly alternative to street lighting and that its anti-slip properties make it ideal for use on bike paths.

According to the owner of Pro-Teq Surfacing, Hamish Scott: “There is nothing like Starpath in the world, this product adjusts to the natural light, so if it is pitch black outside the luminous natural earth enhances, and if the sky is lighter, it won’t release as much luminosity – it adjusts accordingly.”

Starpath can be quickly and easily applied to existing paths – a 150m stretch currently being trialled in Cambridge was installed and ready to use in less than five hours.