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You have surely noticed that, driving at night, not all car lights look the same. Some are yellowish, some whitish, and some even have a bluish tint. On top of that, some shine brighter than others. The factors behind these differences are the age of the car — modern cars generally have stronger lights than their older counterparts — and, most importantly, the technology used to make the bulbs and lenses. Those different technologies, and the car lights they produce, are the subject of this article.
Halogen lights
A halogen bulb is made of a glass envelope resistant to high temperatures, a gas that is usually a mix of argon and nitrogen, and a tungsten filament. To produce light, the halogen bulb draws current from the battery and heats up to about 2,500 °C, at which point it starts to glow.
Advantages of halogen lights
Halogen lights are currently the most popular option in the car industry, thanks to their simplicity and good price-to-quality ratio. A halogen bulb lasts around 1,000 hours in normal conditions, and replacing it costs less than replacing bulbs of any other lighting type.
Besides simplicity and value, halogen bulbs are also practical: they come in many sizes, which makes them a fit for most car models.
Disadvantages of halogen lights
However popular halogen lights are with drivers, more and more car makers treat them as the fallback option. Here is why…
A halogen bulb usually reaches the end of its life when tungsten evaporates from the filament, deposits on the glass envelope and causes the filament to break. A bigger problem is that, while producing light, a halogen bulb generates a lot of heat, which increases power consumption.
Halogen bulbs are also sensitive to various substances. When replacing one, never touch the quartz glass of the new bulb with bare hands — the oils from your fingers stick to it, cause uneven heating and shorten its life. Use a clean cloth to hold the glass instead.
Xenon lights
Xenon lights get their name from the gas the bulbs are filled with, which gives them their characteristic whitish light. Because current flows through the gas and there is no metal filament to heat up and burn out, xenon bulbs usually outlast halogen ones.
Cars with xenon lights must be fitted with a headlight washer system. Dirt or dust can scatter the light that xenon bulbs emit and blind other drivers on the road.
Advantages of xenon lights
Beyond lasting longer than halogen (about 2,000 hours in normal conditions), xenon lights also shine brighter — which matters enormously for night driving and your safety. Consider that at 110–115 km/h you cover about 32 metres every second: the extra visibility xenon provides can be the difference between braking in time and an accident.
Xenon lights not only shine brighter but also produce a more even beam than halogen, which limits glare scatter and the "muffled" view of the road. That can matter a great deal if you live somewhere with many pedestrians or cyclists who can dart out in front of you at any moment — a clear view of the road helps you spot them in time.
Disadvantages of xenon lights
The biggest drawback of xenon lights is their complexity: they require more sophisticated, and therefore more expensive, parts than ordinary halogen lights. That also means repairs cost more if something gets damaged.
A smaller nuisance is the washer system, which usually runs automatically and activates the first time you use the windscreen washer, or every few uses. The result can be an over-sprayed windscreen — worth keeping in mind if you proudly drive a convertible, or pass pedestrians who probably do not need that kind of "refreshment".
It should also be said that xenon lights need a few seconds to reach full brightness.
LED lights
The principle behind LED lights is not easy to explain, but in short, they work on a constant flow of electrons through a semiconductor. LED bulbs come in many shapes and can emit light in different colour temperatures, always stated in kelvins. They are cool to the touch and contain no toxic elements such as lead, mercury or cadmium.
Advantages of LED lights
LED lights are an increasingly popular choice because the technology needs incomparably less energy — it works through light-emitting diodes. Their bulbs need a lower voltage than standard halogen bulbs and use up to 10 times less electricity. That is also why some hybrid cars (the Toyota Prius, for example), where electricity plays the key role, use LED technology — and not only for the headlights.
The other reason LEDs are taking over is that, thanks to their small size, they can be made in practically any shape and size. Besides fitting different car models, that gives designers flexibility and creativity, making vehicles look more attractive.
LED lights shine brighter than halogen and warmer than xenon. Moreover, they can adjust the light level automatically while you drive — city versus motorway lighting, for example — which reduces the chance of blinding oncoming drivers.
Disadvantages of LED lights
Although LED bulbs do not radiate heat while shining the way halogen bulbs do, they still generate some heat at the base of the emitter as current passes through, which puts nearby assemblies and wiring at risk.
That is why LED lights need a cooling system. Unfortunately, cooling systems sit in the engine bay, where keeping an adequate temperature is difficult — which makes automotive LED lighting harder and more expensive to implement.
Laser lights
Laser lights are the product of a technology still in development and work by using — as the name says — lasers to light the road. As BMW explained it, their laser system works through three blue lasers positioned at the back of the headlight assembly, aimed at a set of tiny mirrors that focus the energy onto a small lens containing phosphor gas.
On contact with the laser beams, this substance creates white light and directs it toward the front of the headlight assembly. So laser lights are really the result of phosphor-based light creation, not the laser itself.
Advantages of laser lights
Laser light can be up to 1,000 times stronger than light produced by LED technology, while using only two thirds of the voltage. Laser lights can therefore illuminate twice the distance LEDs can.
Thanks to the phosphor gas, the colour temperature of laser light is very close to natural daylight. Laser lights are also small enough to allow design flexibility.
Disadvantages of laser lights
Apart from BMW stating that, at least initially, laser technology will apply only to high beams, its price will be steep — which may not trouble drivers who can afford a BMW or an Audi in the first place.
Laser lights require cooling, as they generate more heat than their LED counterparts.
Conclusion
As with most things in the car world, choosing lights for your four-wheeled friend will depend on many factors: the model you drive, personal preference and, of course, your budget.
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