Nissan has been trialling an automotive paint aimed at helping lower a vehicle's ambient cabin temperature in summer and reduce the energy usage of the air-conditioning system.
Developed in partnership with Radi-Cool, a specialist in radiative cooling products, the paint incorporates metamaterial, synthetic composite materials with structures that exhibit properties not usually found in nature.
Parked side-by-side under the sun, a vehicle treated in Nissan's cool paint has shown yields of up to a 12-degree Celsius reduction in exterior surface temperatures and up to five-degree Celsius cooler interior, compared to a vehicle featuring traditional automotive paint.
The paint's cooling performance is said to be particularly noticeable when a vehicle is parked in the sun for an extended period. A cooler cabin is not only more pleasant to enter, but also requires less air-conditioning run-time to cool the cabin to a comfortable temperature.
According to Nissan, this helps reduce load to the engine, or in the case of an electric vehicle, draw on the battery. In both powertrains, an improvement in efficiency is expected, as well as occupant comfort.
Nissan hopes that this paint could eventually be offered for light commercial vehicle applications such as vans, trucks and ambulances that spend most of the day out driving.
