This is probably the coolest scene in the whole show.
At the just-held CES 2022 show, BMW stole the limelight from other exhibiting car companies with a technology, that is, body color-changing technology.
You see the paint of the BMW iX above, one moment black, one moment white, many people think that this is a GIF picture processed by video editing technology, but it is not. This image comes from a video shot on location, and the color of the paint can be switched instantaneously and looped indefinitely, as if using cinematic special effects.
Not only that, but this technology can be carried out while the vehicle is driving, which is very suitable for participating in the shooting of the 007 series of movies and reducing the pressure on the post-special effects artists.
According to BMW field engineers, this color-changing technology does not use special paint, and the driver can change the appearance color of the vehicle with just one button in the car, but he is tight-lipped about the specific technical details, and said that this is BMW's current top secret.
Just like watching Liu Qian's magic at the Spring Festival Gala, the more he held back and did not say it, the more he stimulated the interest of netizens to explore. OK, let's take a look at how it works today.
Before revealing this technology, I would like to introduce you to a technology that is currently widely used in hotel or home bathroom decoration, that is, liquid crystal glass, also known as electronically controlled dimming glass. This kind of glass can be changed from ordinary glass to frosted glass in an instant to achieve the purpose of protecting privacy.
It looks like science fiction, but in fact, there is a liquid crystal layer between two pieces of ordinary glass. The liquid crystals are arranged in a regular arrangement in the powered state, and in the non-energized state, they are arranged irregularly, the former maintains the normal passage of light, and the latter blocks the conduction of light.
In fact, LCD TV is also the use of this principle, but the control is more precise and delicate, can achieve a very small part of the color control.
Next, back to the color-changing body technology equipped with BMW iX, officially known as E Ink electrophoresis technology, is actually to cover the body of the vehicle with a layer of liquid crystal glass, but this glass is not hard, but soft, like a car coat and the body contour perfect fit.
After zooming in, we can see the surface details of the car, the thin black lines are circuits, and the white square in the middle is the LCD module.
The driver uses a button in the car to control, and the role of this button is only to adjust the external voltage, different voltages represent different colors. Curiously, BMW divides the iX body into multiple areas, and all use E Ink electrophoresis technology, which means that the car can achieve different colors in different body areas to achieve personal customization.
E Ink color-changing technology has two very key benefits:
First, it changes the inherent perception that the body color is immutable from the factory, opening the door to a new world of customization, allowing the owner to change the color of the vehicle according to mood, scene or other situations.
Second, in different seasons, different body colors can achieve different efficiencies. For example, in the scorching summer, the sun shines directly on the vehicle, and the white paint can effectively reduce the absorption of heat and further reduce energy consumption.
Of course, this technology also has limitations, that is, it currently only supports "black, white, and gray" three colors. Not only that, the surface of the body will be covered with a thick layer of LCD "car clothes", which is still very obvious at close range, and once the vehicle collides, the entire color change system will be destroyed, so the maintenance cost is extremely high.
Therefore, bmw's E Ink color-changing body technology launched this time has broken through the concept of traditional car paint, and perhaps in the future, with the popularization of this technology, our vehicles on the road will also become colorful.
Of course, the friends who are responsible for reviewing the body color of the vehicle management office may collapse...