German car company BMW announced at the CES 2022 exhibition dedicated to technology, a new technology is changing the color of the car with one touch.
The company unveiled the technology with its new 100% electric iX Flow concept car.
The iX-Flo will be produced soon, but the vehicles with color-changing paint won't hit car dealership showroom floors for a long time, if at all. The German company describes the technology to alter the chameleon's exterior as an "advanced research and design project".
Automotive variable coating technology is a new application of familiar technology. This technology relies on e-ink, which is used in the "electric paper" technology that powers e-readers such as the Kindle Amazon.
The ink is placed in microcapsules, the thickness of a human hair. The white pigments inside these nanocapsules are negatively charged, while the black pigments have a positive charge.
The switch the user presses shifts the electric field around the capsules, causing some of the pigment to be pushed to the surface, where the paint changes color. This technology is currently available in black, white and a few shades of gray.
According to Stella Clark, who led the project within the German company, "This technology gives drivers the freedom to express different aspects of their personality or even just enjoy the change, redefining themselves every time they get into their cars?"
BMW also notes that there are more practical applications of this feature. Because white paint reflects light, it can keep interiors cool in hot weather, reducing the amount of energy needed for air conditioning. On the other hand, the black color absorbs light and can reduce the amount of energy needed to keep the car comfortably warm during the winter.