>> Another example is the odometer in cars - the OEMs are already asking for 
>> a zero-power display for this so that it is always visible.  Expect to 
>> see ePaper based odometers within 10 years in cars, and cars have one of 
>> the longest product development cycles.
>
> Fine, but that's really just a gimmick, isn't it? Would it really be 
> cheaper, more reliable and the rest than a small mechanical dial? Maybe it 
> would, I'm only being a luddite cynic here... :)

In general electronic components are orders of magnitude more reliable than 
mechanical ones, which is why car OEMs always try to replace mechanical 
parts with electronic ones if they can.  It happened decades ago for the 
distributor in the engine, and more recently for the odometer.  However for 
the odometer the ability to see the mileage of the car without turning on 
the ignition was lost.  ePaper can fix this, because the disadvantages it 
has (low switching time, poor quality colour displays) do not matter for an 
odometer.

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