(Cover image: Design sketch by Jon Leu)

The competition brief is to create a vehicle tailor-made for Manhattan in a Harlem-based Micro Factory, rechargeable through the grid network provided by Better Place.

Manhattan - Photo by Jermaister

Prizes will be awarded to 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place in the amount of $1,500USD, $300USD, and $200USD respectively. Winners will also receive exclusive "In the Studio" Shirts.

Competition submissions will be accepted starting September 15th. The deadline is 21 September at 23:59 (-4GMT). Voting is allowed during the competition, and will extend one week beyond the competition deadline until September 28th.

For more details visit Local Motors' official website.

The Brief

Lower Manhattan (Photo by Isco72)

"New York City has everything to be desired in a single city, and the small island of Manhattan debatably hosts the bulk of it.

"This density of entertainment, shopping and real estate has resulted in congested streets, full of loud energy sucking vehicles."

"Commuting, going to school with the kids, making deliveries for your small business, going to dinner, having your own roustabout, driving to the Hamptons, the shore, or the Hudson on the weekend, or just being fashionable when seen on the New York Streets in the newest coolest greenest wheels, these are the things that this Manhattan LM wunderkind will achieve."

About Better Place

Launched in October 2007, Better Place is a venture-backed company that aims to create a transportation infrastructure that supports electric vehicles, providing swappable batteries to extend the range of the car and an infrastructure of battery charging spots and battery exchange stations.

Better Place is currently building its first Electric Recharge Grids (ERG) in Israel and Denmark with wide scale deployment of electric cars in 2011. Its goal is to become a global electric-car grid operator.

(NOTE: LM is not an official partner of Better Place. Better Place has no affiliation with this competition.)

(Source: Local Motors)