The CES 2022 tech fair takes place this week, and there are a lot of new features that have certainly been stored in the chest for some time. And if there are novelties ready to go on the market, others are just concepts to explore.
In this direction comes the BMW iX Flow. This concept car presented by the German manufacturer allows the vehicle to change color instantly, depending on certain conditions.
The BMW iX Flow changes color instantly thanks to E-Ink
This one comes with a technology that emerged in 1997, called E-Ink. This is best known for being present in products like the Kindle, synonymous with faithful reproduction of a sheet of paper and good performance in bright light.
This BMW iX Flow was presented with an exterior with E-Ink technology, which allows color change depending on the driver’s mood, the weather or even the traffic around it.
“The electrophoretic coloring material itself is applied like a vehicle body wrap, but it works the same way as the e-ink monitors on your Kindle. The shell has millions of microcapsules, each containing a negatively charged white pigment and a positively charged black pigment, ”Engadget explains.
Thus, “depending on the configuration, the application of an electrical charge to the material will cause the white or black pigments to rise to the top of the microcapsule, changing the color of the vehicle in an instant.”
For now we have color transitions only between black and white. But many more can be added in the future, so that the driver can express his personality in this sense, if he so wishes.
Like fashion or social media advertisements, the vehicle becomes an expression of different moods and circumstances in daily life, “says Stella Clarke, project leader for the BMW iX Flow.