The BMW i5 Flow NOSTOKANA impressively demonstrates how the latest evolutions in colour-change technology brings art to life on a vehicle.
Every car lover does not only think about the outsides (colour, form, weather conditions etc.), but the exterior is also very paramount. BMW has consistently manufactured ‘solid’ vehicles, with this i5 Flow not a special case.
BMW i5 Flow’s evolutionary stage of colour-change and technology opens up unique, unprecedented opportunities for individualisation in exterior design.
Within just a few years, the BMW Group has developed and rapidly advanced E Ink technology to be able to generate dynamic colour changes on the surface of vehicle bodies.
From the very start, this revolutionary new design attracted worldwide attention and enthusiastic reactions from public and experts alike. The BMW Group has received numerous innovation awards for the project it calls ‘Flow’. The company has been rapidly developing the technology since its first public appearance.
The BMW Group presented the BMW iX Flow featuring E Ink for the first time at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2022 in Las Vegas. The vehicle changed its entire exterior colour from black to white and back again at the touch of a button.
The principle of colour change – the physical phenomenon of electrophoresis – is based on a technology developed by the E Ink Corporation and used in a similar form in e-book readers.
The surface coating of the BMW iX Flow featuring E Ink contains several million micro cups, each with a diameter no thicker than a human hair. Each of these micro cups contains negatively charged white and positively charged black pigments.
Depending on the setting that has been selected, an electrical impulse ensures that either the white or the black pigments collect on the surface of the micro cups, giving the bodywork its chosen colour. A fascinating side effect: the technology is extremely efficient, as it takes no electricity to maintain the colour state.
Beyond this experience, the technology offers numerous potential fields of application, for example to improve the vehicle’s energy efficiency. A white surface reflects sunlight significantly more than a black one, meaning the interior heats up less. Changing colour could therefore reduce energy consumption in the future, improving the range of the all-electric BMW iX.
The colour particles moving in the micro cups are yellow, cyan, magenta and white and can display up to 32 different colours in the ePaper film that has been applied to the body.
The BMW i5 Flow NOSTOKANA was presented to the world public at the Frieze Los Angeles art fair in February 2024. NOSTOKANA is actually the name of Esther Mahlangu’s first-born son. It is a tribute to the South African artist and the Art Car she designed.
The latest evolutionary stage of E Ink technology enables an unlimited number of animations, as the foiling can now be segmented in a completely new way. As such, the surface of the BMW i5 Flow NOSTOKANA is divided into 1,349 segments, each of which can be individually controlled and animated.
Thanks to the extremely high resolution achieved by millions of micro cups in the numerous film segments, Esther Mahlangu’s art dazzles in full colour and with all its intricate, detailed patterns.
An extraordinary sound, composed especially for the BMW i5 Flow NOSTOKANA by Renzo Vitale, Creative Director Sound at the BMW Group, accompanies the dynamic colour changes. For example, the sound mix combines Esther Mahlangu’s voice with the sounds her feathers make as she draws.
The BMW i5 Flow NOSTOKANA is the first E Ink concept vehicle that has been developed to withstand different climatic conditions. It therefore has the potential to further extend the innovation leadership that the BMW Group is showing in the field of colour-change technology.
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