The next big trend in electric vehicles could be these special edition E Ink dashboards, and I'm totally in favor.
Large e-readers could represent the future of personalization within vehicles.
Continental introduced its innovative E Ink Prism Display at CES 2025, an event held in Las Vegas that has been packed with advancements in display technology, ranging from large screens on vehicle windshields to flexible display technologies for a more immersive visual experience at home.
The company, primarily known for its tires, is making a strong push into automotive technology with its Customizable Emotional Cockpit. This system uses ePaper and eReaders technology to create a screen that measures 1.30 meters long and 10 centimeters high, completely covering the dashboard of vehicles. The E Ink Prism Display allows electric vehicle owners to customize and update the interiors of their cars with a variety of black-and-white designs, and it offers additional benefits, as it does not require continuous backlighting.
Power consumption is only briefly utilized when the display switches from one image to another, which could help improve efficiency and increase battery range. During a demonstration at CES, it was shown that the selected content remained visible even when the vehicle was parked, suggesting that this technology could be implemented in other exterior areas of the car.
The first generation of these displays is capable of showing real-time driving information, such as remaining range or current speed, although it currently only offers grayscale images. Continental anticipates that color variants will be available in the near future.
ePaper displays, due to their lightweight, thinness, durability, and high efficiency, represent a low-tech response to the current trend of flooding car interiors with high-definition touch screens. Although currently limited to shades of gray, future color models could allow owners to change the appearance of their vehicles at the push of a button.
However, there is a possibility that this type of display may not be utilized in production vehicles, as many manufacturers might consider it a low-cost alternative to current high-definition displays, which could affect brand image. Nevertheless, its intriguing aesthetics would certainly stand out in a market often filled with standardized and characterless car interiors.
