All about BMW iX Flow color changing car

This is all new BMW iX Flow the future of electric vehicles with the capability to change its color. The technology behind this color changing car has been named as E Ink i.e. an ink that changes its shade by the means of electricity. The car was unveiled at CES (Consumer Electronics Show) in Las Vegas in Jan 2022 as the 'world's first color changing car.'

There is a lot of buzz at to what this car is about and how this car is shaping the future of automobiles. And what is the best part about it is that this runs on electricity which not only is saving our environment but also is a leap towards the future of sustainability. 

What is being said about this car is that it is just a concept car and till now it is not available for sale. 

Here is all that you need to know about this vehicle and its future implications.  

1.How does this car change its color?

A simple answer is, 'It uses E Ink technology.' The body is covered with special panels and all the panels in turn are covered in a layer of flexible e-Ink screens. The technology is the same as the screen of a black-and-white Amazon Kindle.

It’s similar to a liquid crystal display found in pocket calculators, although the nature of the e-Ink crystals allows them to remain polarized without continuous application of electric current.

BMW seems to have solved a pretty tricky problems:

• Each body panel needs a screen element that is the same irregular shape as the panel.
• The e-ink needs to be bonded to the panel in a durable, thermostable fashion
• The control current needs to be carried to every panel, and signal to each panel needs to be coordinated.

e-Ink is not a new technology at this point, but BMW has applied significant manufacturing innovation to make e-Ink feasible in this application. 

2. What actually is E ink?

Well the answer is simple. It is basically a paper which turns black or white according to polarity of charges passed through it. It works very similar to an LCD but the difference is that in an E Ink display, no backlight is used; rather, ambient light from the environment is reflected from the surface of the display back to your eyes. As with any reflective surface, the more ambient light, the brighter the display looks. The best part about this is that it retains the shade unless turned otherwise which means it will retain a color (black or white) without any need of supplying constant electricity and only utilizes electricity when we want to change the color. 

3. Does this car actually change color?

Well it will be a lie to say that it does not but it is also important to  mentioned that it only switches between two shades black or white. Though work is also being done to make it change to other colors too but for now it is limited to two colors only. The change in color is due to the polarization of molecules which is a deciding factor as to which color it will reflect back. The color does not come from any emission of any kind. 

4.How do you change the color of the car?

There are basically two options available, first the automatic color control which uses predefined patterns to change car color or based on the mood of the drive, like if the driver is going fast it will follow a special pattern of change most probably the color will stay black. Else you can use the software/application which you can download on the smartphone and tap change the settings with just a tap. Another thing I suppose that will be available is the car tablet where you can access the settings too.

5.What will be the cost of BMW IX Flow?

Till now BMW doesn't announced that iX Flow is for sale. “BMW iX Flow is an concept car and not for sale but expected to hit the street in near future” That's what BMW said.

But as a rough estimate we can say it will be sold in about $90,000 that's all we have for now. But in future the prices are are most probably going to rise.