E Ink (Billerica, Massachusetts), the originator, pioneer, and global commercial leader in ePaper technology, uses its E Ink Prism 3 in the official unveiling of the BMW i5 Flow NOSTOKANA, a tribute to the 1991 Esther Mahlangu Art Car. The innovative homage to BMW Art Car #12 has been unveiled at the Frieze Los Angeles art fair from 29 February to 2 March.
“Seeing the BMW i5 Flow NOSTOKANA creates a visceral reaction and challenges spectators to think about the possibility of colour ePaper,” said Johnson Lee, CEO of E Ink. “Collaborating with a company like the BMW Group on the Homage Car demonstrates how our technology can transform the way surfaces are experienced, enabling product personalisation and self-expression. E Ink Prism 3 is fully programmable, low power, and durable, making it ideal for creating dynamic and sustainable designs on any surface.”
Artistic design and technology innovation
Directly inspired by the South African artist Esther Mahlangu, the BMW i5 Flow NOSTOKANA is an amalgamation of artistic design and technology innovation that features segments of ePaper that can be electronically animated. The structure and arrangement of the colour particles can be changed by applying an electric charge, bringing to life a previously static surface into a constantly changing composition.
BMW and E Ink’s ongoing collaboration is helping drive rapid colour-changing innovation and adoption. The BMW iX Flow featuring E Ink presented at CES 2022 could switch from black to white at the push of a button. The black-and-white concept evolved in 2023 into the first multi-colour automobile implementation of E Ink’s Prism 3 technology with the BMW i Vision Dee. The 240 segments on the BMW i Vision Dee could display up to 32 different colours and potentially tens of thousands of pattern combinations. With respect to the original design, the BMW i5 Flow NOSTOKANA has been outfitted with 1349 segments that can be individually controlled, enabling even more colours and pattern designs.
E Ink’s display technology is ultra-low power because it is bi-stable. Furthermore, E Ink’s ePaper technology is considered to be the most energy-efficient display medium and is enabling partners to create sustainable solutions for various sectors. Due to the technology’s low energy consumption, durability, and flexibility, E Ink has been used in a wide range of products, such as eReaders, cell phones, medical devices, logistics labels, and transportation and information signs.
Committed to Net Zero by 2040
E Ink is committed to reaching RE100 by 2030 and Net Zero by 2040. The company introduced the use of renewable energy in its global sites, and has optimised power consumption through highly efficient energy management systems. E Ink announced that by December 2023, the global operation and sales sites have achieved RE35, where 35 percent of the energy used by the company is generated from renewable sources. E Ink’s factories and offices in Billerica, Fremont, and South Hadley in the United States, as well as sales offices in Tokyo, Japan, and Seoul, South Korea, have achieved the RE100 goal of using 100 percent renewable energy.
E Ink is also actively improving carbon reduction from product design and manufacturing processes, and conducts product carbon footprint verification. The company provides customers with a carbon footprint framework for their ePaper products, and conducts low-carbon ePaper product design and development. According to the evaluation of the FTSE Russell Green Revenue 2.0 Data Model under the Energy Management Efficiency IT Process sub-sector, E Ink was identified as having 99.98 percent of Green Revenue in 2021 and has a positive impact on the environment, highlighting the environmental benefits of ePaper products. In September of 2023, E Ink announced that the company’s science-based greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction targets have been validated and approved by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), for the near-term, long-term, and net-zero targets.