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BMW has gone one better with the iX Flow, revealed earlier this year at CES 2022 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Customers can have any colour they want, as long as it is black – or white. Instead of the rigidity of the Model T’s one set option, drivers of the iX Flow will apparently be able to switch between the two at the press of a button.
The car is a striking demonstration of a novel technology – but does it have any practical use?
‘An expression of mood’
Videos of the concept car show quick and smooth transitions between black and white on small individual segments of the body wrap, creating the overall effect of a ripple across the surface.
The trick is made possible by the same ‘e-ink’ technology that is found in electronic books. The surface coating contains millions of microcapsules, each with a diameter roughly equivalent to a human hair, and each microcapsule contains negatively charged white pigments and positively charged black pigments. Stimulation by an electrical field causes either the white or the black pigments to collect at the surface, giving the car body the desired colour.
Described as an advanced R&D project, the coating is an external addition to the BMW ‘My Modes’ feature, which allows the driver to change aspects of the interior to suit mood and driving experience.
“Digital experiences won’t just be limited to displays in the future,” said board member Frank Weber. “There will be more and more melding of the real and virtual. With the BMW iX Flow, we are bringing the car body to life.”
The company also promised “a whole new level of decision-making freedom in the future”. Project leader Stella Clarke claimed it “gives the driver the freedom to express different facets of their personality or their enjoyment of change outwardly, and to redefine this each time they sit into their car. Similar to fashion… the vehicle then becomes an expression of different moods and circumstances in daily life.”
Alongside the breathless hyperbole about personal expression, the German automotive giant also promises a practical use for the coating. As white surfaces reflect much more light than black – therefore absorbing less thermal energy – changes in external colour could be used as a form of temperature management.
In hot, sunny environments, the company suggests, a white coating could cool the vehicle, while a black coating could help keep the car warm in cold temperatures. The system could therefore cut the amount of cooling and heating needed from air conditioning, and with it the vehicle’s fuel consumption.
Longer range
In an electric car, this could even help extend the range, says the company. The e-ink technology is “extremely energy efficient,” an announcement claims, and no energy is needed to keep the chosen colour state constant.
BMW sold the CES demonstration as the “initial results” of a project that could pave the way for commercial models. A base model iX – without Flow technology – costs £70,000, while the xDrive50 variant climbs up to £116,000. A potential boost to energy efficiency is an undoubtedly worthy aim, but perhaps not top of the priority list for people splashing that kind of cash.
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