Choosing a color for a new car can be a lengthy process, involving factors such as retained value – not to mention the need to polish and wax to protect the paint.
That could be a thing of the past if BMW is involved, as the automaker continues to develop and invest in its revolutionary ‘E Ink’ technology.
Developed by Australian Dr Stella Clarke after being inspired by e-readers such as the Kindle, BMW’s E Ink – scientifically known as electrophoresis technology – can change colour when a small electric current is passed through it.
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iX Flow Concept -
The benefit of the technology is that once it has changed, it does not need any power to maintain that state. Its bistable capability only consumes power when there is a change.
BMW previews E Ink on black and white display iX Flow Concept in 2022, but has since improved the system on I Vision Dee concept in 2023 and i5 Nostokana music stream earlier this year.
While E Ink has obvious practical benefits, such as being able to turn cars white in hot weather, Dr Clarke said it was emotional factors that drove the public’s response to the technology.
“I was working at UI when I had this idea, so it was always meant to be something functional because E Ink is amazing at reading in sunlight. When sunlight hits it, it still looks great, but at night you can also backlight it,” Dr. Clarke said. Car expert.
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Dr. Clarke with i Vision Dee
“So with displays, especially in the cockpit, we’re developing user interface concepts that need to be usable in sunlight. For me, E Ink is the solution to that problem.
“Even with iX Flow, I’m still focused on use cases like you can display battery status on the outside of the car or you can turn the car white in the summer to help reflect light and keep the inside of the car cool.
“Quantitatively, these were all good, useful, practical ideas, but over time we realized that this was not a practical topic — it was an emotional topic.
“People love to mix and match, and it really puts a smile on people’s faces when they see the rims change color or see the racing stripes on the car. So over the years, we’ve learned that this is an emotional theme and a fun theme. It doesn’t have to be functional.”
When asked if BMW would put E Ink into production because of the functional benefits, Dr. Clarke said the initial feedback has made it clear that people want it.
“They don’t really care much about functional things. I like that sun-reflecting thing, but sometimes we have to be humble and realize that it’s not something that everyone in the world likes.”
While E Ink requires electricity to change color, it can draw power from a car’s existing 12-volt system, whereas Dr. Clarke’s original idea used just 5 milliamps.
While E Ink is touted as being able to increase a car’s performance by changing color to reduce stress on heating and cooling systems, the question is how much weight it will add.
“The entire car, including electronics and controls, would weigh about 1.5kg,” explains Dr Clarke.
“Everything on the body is 12-volt, we also do the wheels and that’s a bigger challenge.
“We only put batteries in the first two cars and the batteries are tiny, 3.7-volt units. They’re behind the BMW logo inside the wheel hub. It’s a really big advantage that they [the E Ink panels] has very low energy.”
It’s not yet known when we’ll see BMW’s E Ink first appear on Australian roads, but the company is working on future concepts.
