It definitely looks like we’re heading to an age when devices can take care of themselves. Last year, LG unveiled the G Flex self-healing phone and now Nissan announced that it will make self-cleaning cars in the not-so-distant future.
There are people that enjoy quite a lot to wash the car by themselves, without taking it to a car wash. For that kind of people and for the ones who happen to own a car wash, the invention of self-cleaning cars is nothing but bad news. For all the others, this means lower maintenance costs, as well as a lot of time saved. Nissan invention is not exactly a type of car that shakes off the dirt the same way dogs do. Instead, it’s a special paint that can easily repel dirt, dust and mud.
To make things even worse, Nissan announced that it is considering offering this kind of paint as an after-market product. In other words, the ability to repel dirt won’t be a proprietary feature of Nissan cars. Instead, it could become a characteristic of all cars, regardless of how old they are or what manufacturer made them. You want that Oldsmobile or Plymouth made in the 1940s to look like new? Just give it a paint job using Nissan’s new invention!
The Ultra-Ever Dry paint created by UltraTech International Inc. is both oleophobic and hydrophobic, and it was made by “creating a protective layer of air between the paint and environment.” That’s an interesting approach, considering how much time and money people spend on car washing. As Detroit News points out, this industry generates $23 billion worldwide and employs 130,000 workers each year (that’s if you don’t count the ones working without papers), so Nissan’s self-healing paint and self-cleaning cars will have a hard time changing people’s mentality.
For the moment, only Nissan Europe means to offer this paint in the near future, so it might take a while till the new technology makes its way to the US. As far as American drivers are concerned, it’s uncertain whether Nissan will even offer this revolutionary paint in the US. More than that, the price of this paint as an after-market product hasn’t been disclosed by the automaker, and neither has the price of the paint as an extra.
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