Remember those toy cars that you could sink into warm water for a different color? This BMW iX can do something similar. It has a special wrap, which you can change with a simple action. Then the electric SUV is white again, then black again.
E Ink, the developers call the special wrap that this BMW iX wears. Simply put, it contains particles that change color when an electrical current is sent through them. According to BMW, it shows the future of personalization. Customers will soon be able to customize their BMW with the push of a button if they are tired of the existing color of the car. Or if you want to change the business black body color to exciting red at the weekend, for example. The E Ink technology could also be applied in the interior.
BMW iX with E Ink is also more efficient
By the way, E Ink is not just for the beautiful. A white car reflects more sunlight than a black car and thus stays cooler. And when it’s cold, a black car generally stays a little warmer because it absorbs sunlight. So if you can change the exterior color of your BMW, you can ensure that, for example, the air conditioning does not have to work as hard, so that in an electric SUV like the iX the range is slightly larger. The E Ink itself only needs a stream to change the color. Not to keep the chosen color.
Technology comes from e-readers
The technology behind E Ink comes from e-readers. The surface of this iX is made up of millions of microcapsules with the diameter of a human hair. They are bundled in triangular pieces of e-paper and contain negatively charged white particles and positively charged black particles. So those are the only two colors that this BMW can adopt at the moment. As you can see from the photos, the E Ink is even on the alloy wheels on this study model.
