TOKYO — Nissan showed Tuesday what it called a “cool paint” to keep people inside vehicles cooler, although the coating is six times thicker, making commercialization still a challenge.
Nissan Motor Co. tested the paint on vehicles scuttling around Tokyo’s Haneda airport, where there are plenty of unshaded areas that make it a good place to assess the technology. The vehicles with the special paint looked like ordinary cars, but felt much cooler to the touch.
The cool paint lowered the cars’ roof-panel temperature by 12 degrees Celsius (22 degrees Fahrenheit). The test vehicles' interiors were cooler by 5 C (9 F), according to Nissan. Cooler temperatures would be an advantage in particular for EVs, where energy used by the air conditioning can affect driving range.