BMW recently revealed a concept car called the BMW iX Flow which can flick between being black, white and grey at the push of a button.
Imagine, ‘ah I’m bored of my sensible grey car, I think I’ll make it yellow for the day’, then just hitting a button and changing it. Car wraps would be a thing of the past and you could have a different colour car whenever you want.
It’s undoubtedly amazing tech, but let’s look into how it actually works and why we think it’ll never catch on.
Though it’s still not a production car, the iX Flow is the world’s first colour changing car.
So what’s the closest we’ve seen on a car you can actually buy?
The nearest thing on a production car would be flip paint, sometimes known as chameleon paint. This changes the way the car looks depending on the lighting and the angle you see it at.
Flip paint works by having millions of tiny flakes in the paint that act like prisms when light hits them. This refracts and reflects the light and gives the paint a colour changing effect. It’s not that common now, but it was a popular modification in the early 2000s and it has even been offered by manufacturers like TVR, McLaren and Ford.
Another colour changing technique is thermochromic paint. This works using heat, so when it reaches a certain temperature it will reveal a different colour. It’s less commonly used on cars and you’re more likely to see it on novelty items like colour changing mugs.
Neither of those are close to the ‘e-ink’ system used by BMW, so how does it actually work?
First of all, it’s not paint, it’s actually laminated on a plastic film. It’s also not the most futuristic tech as it’s been around for a little while now. Amazingly it’s quite similar to what you’d find in a Kindle, which uses a two pigment e-ink system.
⭕ Porsche's genius Turbo Design
[ Ссылка ]
⭕ Why Movable Rear Wings Won't Catch On
[ Ссылка ]
🔴 Would you like to be featured in a video with your car? Submit it here 👉 [ Ссылка ] 🏁
Press enquiries: press@driver61.com
#BMW #ColourChanging #iXFlow
