LaPointe and Just Auto

REFR got its favorite kind of exposure -- the free kind -- in an article posted to just-auto.com yesterday. As usual, the article was completely uncritical and effectively repeated REFR's claims verbatim. This is not really meant to demean Dave Leggett, the editor of just-auto.com, or the publication, or to suggest any kind of collusion was intended. Certain publications have a limited budget for fact checking, and have to rely on the companies they interview being true to their word. It works most of the time, and doesn't automatically make them illegitimate.

However, every so often, they get a company with a self-promotional agenda, and then you get something like the three paragraphs REFR got.

US-based Research Frontiers Inc has developed a light control technology, known as SPD (Suspended Particle Device) for controlling light in vehicles and other applications such as aircraft, architectural and marine. A thin film is sandwiched inside the glass that conducts a low voltage of electricity. As a current passes through it, masses of suspended particles join together or disperse, allowing more or less light to pass through. It means that you can simply turn a dial to block out the light, eliminating the need for a sliding shade panel all together. That’s important for the sunroof makers as they move towards offering panoramic roof designs. Research Frontiers is on the brink of releasing its second generation SPD film.

That's perfectly fine for the first half a paragraph, but unfortunately, it still remains true that SPD in no way eliminates the need for an opaque shade. No matter how dark SPD gets it never becomes opaque, and when you're dealing with the intense light of the sun, true opacity is vital.

The last statement is comical for reasons I'm sure just-auto.com never suspected, that REFR has been "on the brink" of "second generation" film for over a year now, and is almost exactly one year late on its initial projection of film availability following the announcement of SPD Inc. closing.

That's not even getting into the relatively fine point that REFR will never be doing any "releasing" of its own accord -- such matters are strictly relegated to the licensees.

Compared to other transparency control devices – such as electrochromic (EC) or liquid crystal – SPD is cheaper per square foot and reacts faster. It can be totally dark, totally bright or somewhere in between. EC technology can still be tuned but not to the extent that SPD can. Another advantage is that SPD is that it is a film-based technology. That means it can be shipped all over the world. It also means that it can be applied to plastic as well as glass, which can be applied to curved as well as flat surfaces. In the default state, with the power off, the window is dark and would not be able to form the main component of a windscreen. Perhaps the upper band strip but not the entire windscreen. But when a motorist parks their car, SPD would be in the ‘off’ state, an advantage for sunroof applications.

Okay, first sentence. There is in fact no basis for making any favorable claims about the cost of "second generation" SPD. Indeed, other nominally "rubber stamp"-ish article referenced SPD's extraordinarily high costs, pegged around $150 per square foot. (The basis for that figure is the subject of another long-overdue article.) EC has never been quoted at so high a price -- most likely because its purveyors would never think to attempt to market it at such a price point.

The second sentence, we've already covered. SPD cannot go totally dark. It can't really go totally light either, but how much of the "unclarity" is due to the SPD and how much to the window itself is hard to gauge.

The third sentence, again, assumes things about EC not in evidence, and quite possibly long out of date. Not to mention that there's more than one kind of technology coming under the umbrella of "EC" (sometimes, even SPD itself is considered as such!)

The fourth sentence refers to an improvement SPD made back in 1991(!) To read the paragraph you'd think this was something new, and furthermore, something that EC and LC cannot claim! Go ahead and tell the makers of LCD computer displays about the non-shippability of their technology.

The rest of the paragraph calms down and even touches on a disadvantage of SPD, the fact that its default "off" state disqualifies it from consideration as overall windshield tint. If you're wondering about the term "windscreen", it turns out that just-auto.com is a UK-based site. One wonders, then, where Bob Hudson has gone off to.

All right, last paragraph:

Auto applications include sunroofs, sunvisors, rear-view mirrors, instrument panels and navigation systems. “There are numerous studies that show the increase of accidents when driving into the sun,” said Mike LaPointe, Vice President, Marketing, Research Frontiers. “If you had an SPD sun visor fitted to your car, it could be in the down position and you could see clearly through it but if you turned into the sun, it would darken immediately. I think that this is an application that it would be difficult for EC to penetrate because of the slow transition speed. So I certainly think that you will see SPD visors.”

And here is where we learn the source of all this "information", our favorite VP, Mike LaPointe. This paragraph reads kind of oddly, though. Twice LaPointe says "I think", almost as if he's trying to convince himself. Or maybe just cover himself. But once again, this is almost as much a matter bad-mouthing a very loosely-defined general overview of EC which may well be long out of date, as it is of trying to show the upside to SPD.

Just another case of REFR getting something published for the benefit(?) of their shareholders.