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Nissan's ‘Self-Cleaning’ Car Prototype [video]

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Re: Nissan's ‘Self-Cleaning’ Car Prototype [video]

#31

Post by toomuchtodo »

Qworg wrote: post #29
josho wrote: post #16

I see this as an interesting business lesson for startups, but even more general. First, what a great marketing angle, a self-cleaning car, how cool is that! I imagine 6 o'clock news stations across the country showing clips from this video tonight. Second, what a great up-sell opportunity. Now every oil change service done by Nissan can include a new $50 charge (or whatever the market will bear) for re-applying the…

Even better, they didn't actually develop anything. Ultra Ever Dry ( http://dry.technology/index.html ) has been around for a while now. It is pretty remarkable. The only downside is that it needs to be reapplied (and it cannot be used on windows). It wears off at a rate depending on how much abuse it takes - anything rubbing on it will hasten its decline. EDIT: To dvcc's point below, this sounds very negative. It is…

> The only downside is that it needs to be reapplied (and it cannot be used on windows).

Reapply ever 5000 miles when you rotate the tires, and use RainX on the windows.

Re: Nissan's ‘Self-Cleaning’ Car Prototype [video]

#32

Post by wuschel »

(Disclaimer: I had a fair share of sucker punches with self-cleaning surfaces..)

Approaches towards self cleaning surfaces have been seen in the lab since a long, long time: They range from photocatalytic concepts (e.g. TiO2/SiO2/polymer hybrid coatings for house paint) to surfaces with a mixture of -OH/-CH3/-F (hydro-/lipophilic and mostly repellent) end groups that can be produces by plasma treatment, and many more.

There is a good reason that very little of these applications have ended up in mass production: The stability and durability of the film surfaces. Once you get a surface structure damage on, say, your "lotus effect functionalized" bathtub, house wall, car body, dirt starts to accumulate on this spot. The german car industry had quite a bunch of projects with car windows without front wipers (minimum speed 20 km/h to be effective), there have been a lot of projects for self cleaning house paints using the sun - but so far there is no effective product on the market. But of course there are a lot of patents..

I have no idea if Nissan found a way to make a cost effective, self cleansing film coating that can stand the test of gravel, acid, and time. If they succeeded, then it is a true accomplishment. But for the reasons listed above, I somehow doubt that.

Re: Nissan's ‘Self-Cleaning’ Car Prototype [video]

#33

Post by moistgorilla »

poopsintub wrote: post #27
josho wrote: post #16

I see this as an interesting business lesson for startups, but even more general. First, what a great marketing angle, a self-cleaning car, how cool is that! I imagine 6 o'clock news stations across the country showing clips from this video tonight. Second, what a great up-sell opportunity. Now every oil change service done by Nissan can include a new $50 charge (or whatever the market will bear) for re-applying the…

The cost of reapplying would be pretty high. Look at the amount of masking-off and prep work they do. You go in for an oil change and tire rotation which would normally take an hour but instead have to pick your car up the next day because it has to dry. I get a free car wash with each service of my car. That takes long enough.

They are only painting half the car.

Re: Nissan's ‘Self-Cleaning’ Car Prototype [video]

#34

Post by miahi »

moistgorilla wrote: post #33
poopsintub wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The cost of reapplying would be pretty high. Look at the amount of masking-off and prep work they do. You go in for an oil change and tire rotation which would normally take an hour but instead have to pick your car up the next day because it has to dry. I get a free car wash with each service of my car. That takes long enough.

They are only painting half the car.

It's not because of that. They are also covering all the plastic components (maybe it attacks plastic?) so it's still a lot of work even if you don't have to cover half the car.

Re: Nissan's ‘Self-Cleaning’ Car Prototype [video]

#35

Post by iandanforth »

wuschel wrote: post #32

(Disclaimer: I had a fair share of sucker punches with self-cleaning surfaces..) Approaches towards self cleaning surfaces have been seen in the lab since a long, long time: They range from photocatalytic concepts (e.g. TiO2/SiO2/polymer hybrid coatings for house paint) to surfaces with a mixture of -OH/-CH3/-F (hydro-/lipophilic and mostly repellent) end groups that can be produces by plasma treatment, and many more…

What if this were an option at a carwash? I use full synthetic oil because it allows me to increase time between changes. I would pay more for a car wash that lasted longer as well. If the problem is a need to re-apply, can you get a coating that could be sprayed across the entire car without a need to mask out bits like in the video?

Re: Nissan's ‘Self-Cleaning’ Car Prototype [video]

#36

Post by buro9 »

iandanforth wrote: post #35
wuschel wrote: post #32

(Disclaimer: I had a fair share of sucker punches with self-cleaning surfaces..) Approaches towards self cleaning surfaces have been seen in the lab since a long, long time: They range from photocatalytic concepts (e.g. TiO2/SiO2/polymer hybrid coatings for house paint) to surfaces with a mixture of -OH/-CH3/-F (hydro-/lipophilic and mostly repellent) end groups that can be produces by plasma treatment, and many more…

What if this were an option at a carwash? I use full synthetic oil because it allows me to increase time between changes. I would pay more for a car wash that lasted longer as well. If the problem is a need to re-apply, can you get a coating that could be sprayed across the entire car without a need to mask out bits like in the video?

It would do bad things to windscreens and the effectiveness of wipers.

Remove wipers and you have the issue that if someone failed to get a re-apply the effectiveness would diminish over time.

Re: Nissan's ‘Self-Cleaning’ Car Prototype [video]

#37

Post by hnnewguy »

leorocky wrote: post #20

RIP car washes! Wow and that self cleaning paint action, I just had to see it. At this point I just think a ban on wired.com is called for on HN. Whatever nice discussions we've had from wired is probably not offset by the constant shit from this domain. I know I've sung this tune before.

>At this point I just think a ban on wired.com is called for on HN.

Why is this uninteresting to the audience, yet every time Tesla releases a PR piece it appears on the front page? I'm not sure either really "deserves" much attention here, but that's how it works.

Re: Nissan's ‘Self-Cleaning’ Car Prototype [video]

#38

Post by alexkiritz »

josho wrote: post #16

I see this as an interesting business lesson for startups, but even more general. First, what a great marketing angle, a self-cleaning car, how cool is that! I imagine 6 o'clock news stations across the country showing clips from this video tonight. Second, what a great up-sell opportunity. Now every oil change service done by Nissan can include a new $50 charge (or whatever the market will bear) for re-applying the…

Or it could be a push to give dealers something to do when everyone starts buying electric cars.
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