New Paint Can Keep Cars Cool
Auto company Nissan has developed paint that helps prevent cars from heating up on hot days.
© Nissan
Two cars, one with the cooling paint and one with traditional paint, are heated as their temperatures are monitored.
If you’ve ever gotten into a car on a hot, sunny day, you know it’s not a pleasant experience. A sweltering car is not only uncomfortable but also potentially unsafe. Now, auto company Nissan Motor Co. has come up with new automotive paint that can keep a car’s exterior and interior dramatically cooler.
Nissan tested the paint at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport, which receives abundant sunlight, by parking two cars next to each other—one coated with the cooling paint and one coated with regular auto paint. At the end of the test, the vehicle with the cooling paint was up to 22 °F (12 °C) cooler on the outside and up to 9 °F (5 °C) cooler on the inside than the other vehicle.
© Nissan
Two Nissan vehicles were tested in a sunny part of Haneda Airport in Tokyo, Japan.
The paint contains two kinds of particles that help it stay cool. One particle helps prevent the paint from heating up by reflecting near-infrared wavelengths of light. The other produces electromagnetic waves that direct energy away from the car and into space.
© Nissan
What happens when the new paint is put to the test?
Cooling paints, which are typically white, are already used on rooftops and some other surfaces. But these paints are usually much thicker than other paints, making it impossible to put them on cars. Nissan’s paint is thinner than most cooling paints but still thicker than most auto paints.
Nissan hopes to improve its paint, making it thinner—and possibly making it available in colors other than white.
