Porsche wants to make your new car more noticeable, according to its latest patent filing. New patents for hidden racing stripes have been filed by the company in an effort to make cars more interactive and personable, as well as making EV charging more convenient.

Using a film material that the company describes as electronic paper or a paramagnetic coating, the car’s colour changes when an electric voltage is applied, like when being charged. The patent calls it a “motor vehicle with a vehicle body featuring an actively controllable, optically changeable coating.”

Cars that can change their colour aren’t new, but the new patent shows different ways of how Porsche could apply the new tech to its cars, with the most notable being disappearing racing stripes. The filing shows that the stripe colouring could change depending on what drive mode the car is in – green for eco, red for sport, and so on.

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The patents also show the film being used behind the rear wheels and potentially being useful on an electric vehicle to show its charge status, which could add significant convenience for owners.

The use for this technology is not limited to production cars either – we can imagine it being quite useful in endurance racing too, like in Formula E for crews to see how much charge the race cars have in them.

Whatever the use, colour-changing cars could be coming to our roads very soon.