BMW iX Flow, from black to white and vice versa
BMW created a color-changing car that will disguise itself while making a silent engineless escape. This car is a fun look-ahead for tech geeks and fans of heist movies.
A leopard cannot change their spots but your next car might.
BMW iX Flow breaks new ground for the auto industry as it can swap between two colors i.e. black and white, using E Ink, the electronic paper technology used in kindle.
How does color changing car work?
The body of the car is covered with laser-cut E ink electrophoretic coloring material. The material has millions of microcapsules of ink that contain negatively charged white pigment and positively charged black pigment. Stimulation by an electric field brings different color pigments to the top of the surface, changing its color.
Advantage of this color changing car
We are aware of the concept that white reflects sunlight and blacks absorb heat from it. This can show how this car can be advantageous. The color can be changed to white during a hot day to reflect heat, while it can be changed to black during a snowy day to increase visibility and absorb heat.
If the car is lost in a parking lot, the color can be changed to detect it in peripheral vision.
The color can also be changed according to traffic conditions and the mood of the driver. Changing the color also required very little energy to maintain it.
Why the color changing car is not practical?
Even though this car sounds very promising, for now, it is just a prototype and might take years to enter the auto industry.
One major challenge is that the E Ink paper demands flat surfaces. The company had to put much effort to cover the curves of the car with this E Ink paper.
Even though Clarke, the brains behind this project, and her team have tested the panel for temperature extreme temperature and humidity conditions are still a concern.
Bringing the wrap to some of the countries like India will be a very big issue. The laws of some countries do not permit the car user to change its color without applying for such change.
Conclusion
According to the head of the project, Stella Clarke, Even though the color-changing car is still a concept it isn’t unrealistic and is doable. A lot of stuff has to be done before the cars proceed to production.
READ MORE: HOW METAVERSE CAN COMPROMISE OUR FREEDOM EVEN MORE?
