BMW officially unwrapped its color-changing car at CES 2022 on 5th Jan. The BMW iX Flow, experimental vehicle so named by the German automaker, is wrapped in what is basically a form of e-paper, which BMW developed in cooperation with E Ink.

The customized, fully electric BMW iX has body panels made from E Ink displays - the same technology that is found in the screen of a Kindle ereader - in a system it's calling 'iX Flow'.

Once the E Ink panels are on the car, they're coated with a special layer to help protect them against the elements.

While the demo is currently just changing the vehicle’s color between black and white, BMW says that other colors are possible - opening up the possibility of some real variety for consumers in the future. And future implementations of this tech won't be limited to color changes of the bodywork.

Just like Kindle’s screen that doesn’t use any energy after the content has changed, the iX Flow’s electrophoretic technology doesn’t use any energy either once the preferred color and design is set up.

BMW explained that the tech could be used on specific areas of a car - such as the grille, to give it different appearances, or even on license plates (although there would be numerous legal limitations here).

As on an ereader, with this technology information can be displayed, in image or text, on its exterior, even things such as charge status, a handy feature for EV owners.

Video Courtesy CNET Highlights

“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 get into their car,” says Stella Clarke, head of Project for the BMW iX Flow featuring E Ink. “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.”

E Ink panels are well known in the tech industry and while they're most commonly associated with e-readers, they've also appeared in wearables, smartphones, tablets and more.

A highly versatile and flexible product, E Ink can be cut into different shapes and hole-punched, which makes it ideal when it comes to covering the obscure angles of a car.

BMW believes it's realistic as E Ink is not that complex a material - and not unrealistic in terms of price, either.
with inputs from techradar, techcrunch, image courtesy - BMW