BMW has developed a car that changes color at the touch of a button or even automatically. The German automaker revealed the magic paint (E Ink) on a version of its 2022 iX electric SUV at the CES consumer electronics show. BMW says the technology is just a demonstration — so far.
BMW unveils color-changing car with E Ink ‘paint’
Frank Weber, Board Member Development said in a statement on Twitter: “In the future, digital experiences will not only take place on displays. The real and the virtual will increasingly merge. With the BMW iX Flow, we are bringing the car body to life.”
Frank Weber, Board Member Development: “In the future, digital experiences will not only take place on displays. The real and the virtual will increasingly merge. With the BMW iX Flow, we are bringing the car body to life.” #BMWCES pic.twitter.com/4618F1Bxcb
— BMW Group (@BMWGroup) January 5, 2022
It’s a new method of changing the shade of the car’s exterior, using electrophoretic technology.
The first car to get the prototype E Ink treatment is obviously the BMW iX, which was shown at CES 2022, changing its shade from white to black and back again. More than that, it was able to do it on different body panels, potentially giving the car a two-tone effect.
The E Ink technology is actually a body wrap which, when stimulated with electrical signals, uses electrophoretic technology to change the pigment of its surface.
At the moment, it only seems the technology can change color from white to black, as it uses negatively charged white pigments and positively charged black pigments, allowing the electrical signals to choose which are shown. It’s actually a technology similar to that used in eReaders.
Technovanguard Take: It’s a giant car-shaped Kindle on wheels!
This would be quite practical, as anybody who lives in, say, Phoenix can tell you. The car would be white in daylight to better reflect heat and black in the early morning to warm up from the cool night a bit and also black at dusk in order to absorb some warmth as the evening rapidly cools.
This might also plant some seeds at Apple. Who’d like a color-changing iPhone, iPad, or MacBook – or, eventually, “Apple Car?”
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