Concept Car from BMW Changes Color with E Ink
The annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES) event usually gives people so many surprises, as various exhibitors present concepts and products that are exciting, intriguing, and at times genuinely futuristic.
For the past few years, car manufacturers appeared in the biggest electronics show, as the line between consumer electronics and automotive tech became blurrier. In recent years, so many cars made their debut at CES, but according to many participants, experts and visitors, CES 2022 is by far the best auto show.
Introducing the latest concept car from BMW
Everyone knows that BMW is an international premium car brand. And most of its models, with some modern touches, retain the features that the brand is known for everywhere. But it does not mean that the manufacturer sticks to the traditional.
In the latest concept car BMW featured at CES 2022, the company is still keen on car coatings. This time, it presented the iX Flow concept. Using E Ink panels, the BMW iX Flow model changes color at the touch of a switch.
BMW loves surprises. At the Frankfurt Car Show back in 2019, BMW unveiled the first blackest car in the world, the Vantablack BMW X 6. It used the revolutionary coating technology from Surrey Nanosystems. But it is not the blackest black, according to the company’s CTO Ben Jensen, as they only used the new sprayable VBx2 formula, coating the car with 99 percent of the miniscule nanotubes. Thus, the vehicle can reflect one percent of available light, allowing people to see the car’s three-dimensionality instead of just a black hole.
Color-change
If you want to be technical, the car is not coated with color-changing paint. Instead, the clear-coated monochrome E Ink sheets cover the iX Flow’s entire body. As a result, the car can switch between black, dark gray, and white with the new technology. It is fascinating to see the change radiating out gradually along the sheets of E Ink. The color change takes place within a few seconds. By the way, E Ink is an electronic paper technology employed by e-readers, such as Amazon Kindle.
A detailed process
Providing the car with this new coating is not that simple. First, according to Stella Clarke, the project team leader, they had to unwrap the car panels’ 3D shapes into 2D shapes. They then employed generative design techniques to find the best way to break them up into polygonal shapes. Next, they created paper prototypes that they cut and tested to see if they fit into the car’s shape. Once they finished the testing, the team began laser-cutting the E Ink panels and attached them to the vehicle.
After covering the entire exterior surface, the team covered the E Ink panels with a clear coat to ensure that they could withstand debris, water, and road grit. But that is not the end of the process. Next, the team has to wire up the numerous electronic connections and connect the car to the central computer to program the operations for the color shift.
The car company’s executive team is quite excited by the result, proud that the concept fits the BMW brand perfectly. Indeed, as shown in the CES 2022 demonstration, the effect is stunning in a classy and understated way. Moreover, E Ink does not need extensive power. Instead, it only requires a small electronic signal to prompt the panels to change the color.
It’s still early to say that this concept will reach commercial production since the large E Ink panels are still tremendously expensive. But who knows, the technology might reach a point where the materials become very affordable. Further, BMW says that the concept car with E Ink is still classified as an advanced design and research project. Still, the BMW iFlow with E Ink tickles the imagination, and the car looks super cool.