BMW’s color-changing e-ink screen is expected to go into production in 2027

The engineers behind the technology envision a world where every BMW is equipped with E Ink

Have you always wondered what your car would look like with a different color, but don’t want to spend thousands of dollars on a rewrap or paint job? BMW may be just a few years away from launching customizable e-ink on production cars.

The German brand first launched its eye-catching color-changing ink in early 2022, and has since improved it to display complex shapes and patterns done in a variety of different colors, all of which can be changed at any time. While many had thought the technology would never be commercialized, when asked if it could be launched within three to five years, the engineers who developed it said “yes.”

Watch: BMW shows how to cover the iX with e-ink

“Our vision is to bring this to a wide range of customers, and our dream is that in a car factory you no longer need a traditional paint shop, but everything can be painted with (E Ink) and every car can be painted in a variety of colors,” Dr. Stella Clarke told drive “The reality is that it may not be the most cost-effective product at first, so I can imagine it will start in a selective market and then hopefully expand.”

It’s not just the idea of ​​being able to personalise the colour of a car at any time that’s interesting. Dr Clarke said owners could change their car from black to white to keep cool on hot days. What’s more, the system requires very little energy to operate.

“It’s powered by electricity, and each little part needs two contact points between which you apply a small voltage to change the color, but when you cut the power, the color stays the same,” she explains. “When the car is off, it stays the same color. It doesn’t take energy to turn on! No light can do that. And it doesn’t take much energy at all to change the color of the whole car, you only need about 20 watts, which is about the same as a light bulb in the door or an LED strip.”

Of course, there are still many safety issues to be resolved. For example, lawmakers around the world cannot allow cars to flash different colors to distract other drivers, so Dr. Clark believes that it is best to only change the e-ink when the car is stationary.

We can’t help but think that repairing any future production car equipped with BMW E Ink might be pretty expensive, but that might be a price some are willing to pay for style.