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Change your car’s colour with a click

Mon 10 Jan 2022    
EcoBalance
| 2 min read

The BMW Flow electric SUV concept can transform hues at the click of a button, going from white to grey or black and back again in a matter of moments. Although it cannot go beyond shades of grey, even at that, it lacks the distinction and depth of real car paint, the effect is astonishing.

The idea is that the effect is not done with paint at all, but with specially developed wrapping cut to fit the SUV’s body panels. It has the same sort of electronic ink technology as employed in electronic readers. The coloured panels are cut exactly to match the shape of the SUV’s body panels with each of the electric wirings attached to each section.

The panel surfaces have millions of tiny capsules with each one containing negatively charged white pigments and positively charged black pigments. Electric currents bring one pigment or the other to the surface creating different shades. Once the colour change is completed, the panels keep their tone without needing any more electrical charge.

The SUV can be coloured all one shade or different shades in different parts. Even the wheels can change colours.

Adrian van Hooydonk, BMW’s head of design, described the BMW iX Flow concept as “an advanced research and design project.”

BMW has not publicised any plans to bring this sort of technology to a production vehicle. The automaker did cite certain advantages to being able to change the tone of a vehicle at a moment’s notice, though.

First, you might just feel like it.

“This gives the driver the driver the ability to express different facets of their personality or even their enjoyment of change outwardly, and to redefine this each time they sit in their car,” said Stella Clarke, project leader for the iX Flow.

Secondly, it can make the vehicle more fuel-efficient and comfortable. On hot days, a white body could reflect heat, keeping the cabin a more comfortable temperature and lessening the need for air conditioning. Contrarily, a black body absorbs more heat and help keep the cabin warm on cold days, reducing the need for heat and ventilation.

However, were it to make it into production, the cost of body damage repairs could be just as striking as the colour effects.

Source: Agencies



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