Until now, if you wanted to change the colour of your car, you had to either have it repainted or wrapped. BMW is debuting a new solution for this at CES 2022 in a concept called the iX Flow featuring E Ink. Yes, the same E Ink that eReaders such as Kindle use for their screens could be harnessed to offer assorted colour combinations and designs for the exteriors and interiors of cars. The technology is being showcased on the company's electric flagship SUV, the iX, and can transform instantaneously from black to white and in any number of patterns.
How the BMW iX Flow featuring E Ink works
Contrary to the name, this technology doesn't use an ink fluid. Instead, it features an electrophoretic material made up of millions of microcapsules with negatively charged white pigments and positively charged black pigments. There is no restriction on which colour combinations could be used, such as blue and white or red and green. When an electric charge is passed through the material, depending on the setting, either white or black pigments collect at the visible surface. Switching colour is the only time the material uses energy, unlike a display that requires constant power, making this more efficient.
Geometric shapes in the BMW iX Flow
The E Ink material comes in large sheets that can be cut and even hole-punched without losing the ability to function. BMW's engineers created a pattern that matches the car's curvature. They then used laser cutting to produce three-dimensional bendable shapes that were affixed to the vehicle. It took the team several attempts to find the optimal pattern, and once applied to the car they covered it in a protective coating, similar to lacquer over traditional paint.
Functional uses for the E Ink technology
One of the more practical use cases for the E Ink technology centres around managing the vehicle's internal temperature. When the car is parked in direct sun, the bodywork can turn white to reflect more sunlight, thus helping to reduce the build-up of heat inside the vehicle. The technology could also be applied to the dashboard to act similarly. Equally, the opposite could be done by switching to black to increase the thermal energy being absorbed by the car. Doing so could, in turn, reduce the amount of energy required by the climate control to bring the cabin to a more comfortable level.
There are other applications where the surface can adopt a more animated design, such as showing the battery status as it charges. Imagine the visualisation of it filling up like fluid as the battery's state of charge increases. As a progression from the ability to flash headlights in a parking lot to help find your car, the colours could also be alternated rapidly to make it easier to see. Owners could theoretically choose contrasting patterns, even designed by themselves on an app, that they could upload to the car.
Stella Clarke, Head of Project for the BMW iX Flow, says: "This gives the driver the freedom to express different facets of their personality or even their enjoyment of change outwardly, and to redefine this each time they sit into their car.
"Similar to fashion of the status ads on social media channels, the vehicle then becomes an expression of different moods and circumstances in daily life."
BMW used this technology in the grille of its 2021 i Vision Circular concept and the number plate of the Vision Amby bike, but this is the first time that the idea has been applied to an entire vehicle. While it is unlikely to reach series production in such a complete form, BMW has said that it is considering smaller applications of the E Ink technology inside cars, such as for dashboard fascias.