[Jason]

Magical exterior colour-change. BMW iX Flow featuring E Ink

World premiere at CES 2022
Body surface with real color change thanks to electrophoretic technology
Potential for future interior and exterior applications

Las Vegas, Nevada- January, 05, 2022... Digitisation is delivering an integrated user experience characterised by individuality and emotionalisation in the interior of current BMW models. The My Modes allow the driver to tailor the atmosphere in the interior entirely to their personal mood and the driving experience they want. With the BMW iX Flow featuring E Ink being presented at CES 2022, the Munich-based premium car manufacturer is offering the prospect of a future technology that uses digitisation to also adapt the exterior of a vehicle to different situations and individual wishes. The surface of the BMW iX Flow featuring E Ink can vary its shade at the driver's prompting.

Frank Weber, Member of the Board of Management of BMW AG, Development: "Digital experiences won't just be limited to displays in the future. 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 fluid colour changes are made possible by a specially developed body wrap that is tailored precisely to the contours of the all-electric Sports Activity Vehicle from BMW. When stimulated by electrical signals, the electrophoretic technology brings different colour pigments to the surface, causing the body skin to take on the desired colouration. Adrian van Hooydonk, Head of BMW Group Design: "The BMW iX Flow is an advanced research and design project and a great example of the forward thinking that BMW is known for."

The innovative E Ink technology opens completely new ways of changing the vehicle's appearance in line with the driver's aesthetic preferences, the environmental conditions or even functional requirements. The technology thus offers unprecedented potential for personalisation in the area of exterior design. The BMW iX Flow featuring E Ink demonstrates this potential to impressive effect. Against this background, the BMW Group is driving the development of the technology so that a new form of personalisation can be experienced both on the outside and in the inside of future production vehicles.

Already today, the colour chosen for a car is an expression of the driver's personality. The choice of exterior paints available for current BMW models covers a wide colour spectrum. In this way, the longing for a wildly expressive, extravagant, or sporty appearance on the outside can be taken into account as well as the desire for an understated, subtle or elegant appearance. New variants are added each year that reflect the characteristics of the model in question and that allow the brand to keep setting trends in the area of exterior design.

New technologies will provide a whole new level of decision-making freedom in the future. "This gives the driver the freedom to express different facets of their personality or even their enjoyment of change outwardly, and to redefine this each time they sit into their car," says Stella Clarke, Head of Project far the BMW iX Flow featuring E lnk. "Similar to fashion or the status ads on social media channels, the vehicle then becomes an expression of different moods and circumstances in daily life."

How a variable exterior colour can increase efficiency.
A variable exterior colour can also contribute to wellness in the interior and to the efficiency of the vehicle. This is done by taking account of the different abilities of light and dark colours when it comes to reflecting sunlight and the associated absorption of thermal energy. A white surface reflects a lot more sunlight than a black one. By implication, heating of the vehicle and passenger compartment as a result of strong sunlight and high outside temperatures can be reduced by changing the exterior to a light colour. In cooler weather, a dark outer skin will help the vehicle to absorb noticeably more warmth from the sun.

In both cases, selective colour changes can help to cut the amount of cooling and heating required from the vehicle's air conditioning. This reduces the amount of energy the vehicle electrical system needs and with it also the vehicle's fuel or electricity consumption. In an all-electric car, changing the colour in line with the weather can therefore also help to increase the range. In the interior, the technology could, far example, prevent the dashboard from heating up too much.

E lnk technology itself is extremely energy efficient. Unlike displays or projectors, the electrophoretic technology needs absolutely no energy to keep the chosen colour state constant. Current only flows during the short colour changing phase.

Millions of paint capsules in a custom wrap.
Electrophoretic colouring is based on a technology developed by E lnk that is most well* known from the displays used in eReaders. The surface coating of the BMW iX Flow featuring E lnk contains many millions of microcapsules, with a diameter equivalent to the thickness of a human hair. Each of these microcapsules contains negatively charged white pigments and positively charged black pigments. Depending on the chosen setting, stimulation by means of an electrical field causes either the white or the black pigments to collect at the surface of the microcapsule, giving the car body the desired shade.

Achieving this effect on a vehicle body involves the application of many precisely fitted ePaper segments. Generative design processes are implemented to ensure the segments reflect the characteristic contours of the vehicle and the resulting variations in light and shadow. The generative design algorithms enable the necessary formability and flexibility required to tailor the ePaper exactly to the design lines of the vehicle.

Laser cutting technologies guarantee high precision in generating each segment. After the segments are applied and the power supply far stimulating the electrical field is connected, the entire body is warmed and sealed to guarantee optimum and uniform colour reproduction during every colour change.

[beammeupscottie]

[QUOTE=Jason;28431977][SIZE="5"]Magical exterior colour-change. BMW iX Flow featuring E Ink[/SIZE]

World premiere at CES 2022
Body surface with real color change thanks to electrophoretic technology
Potential for future interior and exterior applications

Cool tech….how much does that add to the price tag? Ha

[AndroidRobot]

Interesting, if they could do that with a bright color it would be even better

[NightWriter]

Neat. I wonder how many body shops are going to be investing money to work with this? Or is any surface scratch going to require just replacing entire body panels now?

[rgrovr]

Do you realize how many crimes you can commit with this thing? Drug cartels, kidnappers, and straight up criminals would be salivating for this tech.

On a serious note, the tech is amazing and the future is now.

[BMWZ4]

Why would anyone possibly need this tech? And yeah, great for bank robbers lol

[chris719]

Unfortunately I don't think this is all that amazing. If you watch the making-of video, you see they essentially glue a bunch of thin eInk panels to the car. The panels themselves are interesting, but this isn't like a color changing paint or even a paint-like exterior. If you paid LG enough money you could get flexible OLED panels to glue to a car too. It'll be extremely fragile and expensive.

[techwhiz1]

Law enforcement won't like color shifting.

[playswcars]

I want this for my M3 !

[spuntyb]

So I guess we couldn't put PPF on this? Can't imagine when it gets damaged…

[Masander]

Yup. Still fugly

[stein_325i]

Originally Posted by beammeupscottie

Cool tech….how much does that add to the price tag? Ha

You really had to quote the entire first post for two sentences?

[jmg]

Originally Posted by BMWZ4

Why would anyone possibly need this tech? And yeah, great for bank robbers lol

You could make your car white on hot days to help keep temps down, or dark for cold days. You could make it light for night driving visibility. Or dark for stealth operations. You could make it bright yellow or
orange when your are changing a flat tire, or even make it constantly flash colors to really signal an emergency. You can make it flash red and white to essentially high beam people without blinding them. You can escape speeding tickets.

[M6-Coupe]

Beside amazing technology, its a car not a shirt you change the color everyday or social media you post a photo everyday!
I mean its interesting but why anyone needs this technology on the CAR?
Also again this is a car and needs maintenance or repair. At what price this feature is needed?

[Roch M4]

The registration certificate color: Variable...

I don't want to imagine the impossible hassle process to repair a dent...

[Tag]

...the Munich-based premium car manufacturer is offering the prospect of a future technology that uses digitisation to also adapt the exterior of a vehicle to different situations and individual wishes.

Ohh really? My "individual wish" is to change the exterior design, especially that face. Let's see what you got, BMW.

[TargaM2]

So this type of tech is what BMW are researching/investing in…hmmmm.
I'm sure some gullible fanboys will eat it up simply because it's a BMW gimmick like the black furry painted X5 they did, but surely there are more beneficial/viable concepts for a credible auto manufacturer to explore.
Along with the hideous EV design direction & the fact they are slapping an M badge on almost any piece of crap its becoming an embarrasment to own a BMW.

[beammeupscottie]

Originally Posted by stein_325i

You really had to quote the entire first post for two sentences?

Hahaha didn't mean to do that
Thankfully there is an edit button

[ND40oz]

Needs more RGB.

[LittleJoe]

[LittleJoe]

It appears they wrapped the car with a color changing product. Nice trick but completely unfeasible for every day use.

[werdn]

Originally Posted by BMWZ4

Why would anyone possibly need this tech? And yeah, great for bank robbers lol

They probably would want color changing white to black air force one's with that too