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Hella, the German supplier company, has just announced a breakthrough in headlight technology.
Hella is coming out with the industry’s first full LED headlamp. It debuts on the 2008 Cadillac Escalade Platinum. And these special headlights use clusters of light-emitting diodes instead of traditional bulbs.
On the Escalade the headlights use five LED clusters for the low beams and another two clusters for the high beams. By separating the LEDs into groups, Hella was able to aim each cluster individually, which distributes the light much more evenly than conventional bulbs.
Another benefit of LEDs is that they’re smaller and lighter than standard headlamps. This gives designers much more freedom to use a wider variety of shapes
LED headlights will probably cost a lot more than today’s halogen bulbs, but they’re also expected to last up to 20 times longer!
John McElroy is an influential thought leader in the automotive industry. He is a journalist, lecturer, commentator and entrepreneur. He created “Autoline Daily,” the first industry webcast of industry news and analysis.
