BMW explains how the color-changing “paint” works: it’s all about the E Ink display

A few days ago, on January 4, images and videos about the BMW iX Flow car appeared on the Internet, which demonstrated the ability to change the body color directly in real time – on rollers, the vehicle was repainted from white to gray in a second. And yesterday, January 5, representatives of BMW, as part of an event at CES 2022, talked about exactly how their proprietary “paint” works – it turned out that the whole trick lies in the technology of electronic ink called E Ink, which was simply stretched over the entire body of the crossover – it is usually used in e-readers.

Animation is available on click

In order for the car body to have the same properties as the display of an e-book, BMW engineers covered the crossover with millions of microcapsules that contain negatively charged white pigments and, accordingly, positively charged black pigments. Then physics comes into force – depending on the painting mode, which the driver of the vehicle chooses, an electric field of the required voltage is applied to these capsules, activating the necessary capsules. So far, however, it is possible to paint a car with this method only in white, black or gray, but this is just a test of the pen of a new technology.

BMW said that in addition to the wow effect, this development has several useful functions. For example, a white body is better at resisting sunlight, so that the interior and the car itself heats up less on sunny days, while a black body color helps to keep warm for longer in winter. Moreover, the function of changing the color will make it easier to find the car in the parking lot – it will literally flicker, making the task easier. Perhaps, if the technology is “painted” in more colors, it may well become a real revolution in the automotive market.

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