Nissan creates custom scent for electric car emissions

Nissan wants its zero emissions cars to emit a scent of cut green grass, myrtle oil and orange.

You may have an idea in your mind of what the future might look like, but have you ever considered what it might smell like? Neither have we. But that hasn’t stopped Nissan from creating what it thinks could be the smell of a zero emissions future.

Nissan brought in master perfumer and aroma academy scientist (that’s not a joke) Dr George Dodd to craft what a future without combustion engines chugging up the place might smell like, creating what it has dubbed a “future scent”.

We’ve not had a chance to smell the creation just yet, but we know it includes cut green grass, myrtle oil and natural orange to create something that conjures up images of “clean, fresh and organic landscapes” and encourages “nostalgic feelings”.

It would be a waste to go to all this effort and not share it, which is why Nissan will be giving out Leaf-shaped air fresheners imbued with the smell to select electric car fans and owners of its Leaf electric car. Why? To say thank you for being a part of a zero emissions future, that’s why.

“We are very proud to have been asked to create such an abstract and innovative scent with Nissan,” Dr Dodd commented. “When Nissan came to me and asked me to create a scent of the future it was quite a scary thought, but it was a challenge I thoroughly enjoyed. This bespoke, futuristic aroma embodies a palate of smell sensations that have never before existed together and represents a future Nissan is helping us drive towards.

Peel away the tongue-in-cheek message and you are left with something poignant. It’s not that you should buy a Nissan Leaf, although that is obviously part of it. The point is imagining a world devoid of combustion engine fumes, a time when your “sense of smell is going to be liberated”.

Unless, of course, you live near an electric car manufacturing plant.

Nissan says it will be delivering the air fresheners this week ─ just in time for Christmas. A video was made to showcase the process, which is well worth a look.