So far so good, the annual consumers electronics show in Las Vegas is going great and among its notable exhibitionists is German automaker, BMW which has unveiled an interesting concept car.

A color-changing car is definitely something that anyone would want to get if it ever exists as it gives you the opportunity to unleash a lot of possibilities even though there may be some other legal situations that come with it.

Anyway, the new BMW iX makes use of color-changing technology paint. The company used E Ink, an electronic paper technology, which is also making its own debut on the concept car during the CES.

The surface coating of the BMW iX Flow featuring E Ink contains many millions of microcapsules, with a diameter equivalent to the thickness of a human hair. Each of these microcapsules contains negatively charged white pigments and positively charged black pigments. Depending on the chosen setting, stimulation by means of an electrical field causes either the white or the black pigments to collect at the surface of the microcapsule, giving the car body the desired shade.

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As exciting as it may sound, it’s not hitting your local BMW dealership showroom any moment from now as the German automaker says that this is just an advanced research and design project.

In order to switch from one color to the other, you can trigger the change via a button. While you may also be expecting a drastic color change from one extreme shade to the other, the colors are just limited to similar colors such as Black, Grey, and White.

But despite the constrained palette, BMW says it could have implications for the efficiency of its electric vehicles.

“A white surface reflects a lot more sunlight than a black one,” the company says. “By implication, heating of the vehicle and passenger compartment as a result of strong sunlight and high outside temperatures can be reduced by changing the exterior to a light color.”

In cooler weather, darker tones will help the vehicle to absorb more warmth from the sun.“A white surface reflects a lot more sunlight than a black one”

While the concept of personalization is getting more popular in the auto industry, the majority of which focuses on the interior of the vehicle whereby the car’s software remembers the driver’s preferred settings before exiting.

Exterior personalization is definitely going to be another wonderful technology to be seen in the near future.

What is yet to be known is how durable this kind of technology is. How much extreme weather it can withstand and hopefully its color configuration technology doesn’t get ripped off during a slight bump into another vehicle on the road.