Nissan’s concept of small, single-passenger cars that run off of a universal electric “GRID”—much like today’s cell phones—is the winner of this year’s Design Challenge at the Los Angles Auto Show.

Every year, the Design Los Angeles automobile designers' conference is held simultaneously with the LA show. Part of this venue is the Design Challenge, which takes on a different theme each year to pit major Southern California Automotive Design Studios against each other. For this year’s challenge, the teams were asked to envision the “Youthmobile” of 2030. They were asked, “How will a new generation of drivers aged 16 to 23—raised with cell phones, web cams and online communities—emotionally connect to the automobile in 2030?” Teams from Audi, GM, Honda, Mazda, Nissan, and Toyota participated.

The winner, announced at the show, is the Nissan V2G (vehicle-to-grid). The V2G is the product of a future when, according to Nissan’s concept, “the electrification of the nation’s highways leads to the creation of a new ultra-efficient, high speed network called the ‘GRID’.” V2G owners buy GRID access plans (similar to mobile phone plans) that allow the car to run “ON-GRID.”

Taking another step, the concept description adds, “In the spirit of LA’s legendary automotive counter-culture, creative young minds see untapped potential in the V2G. Taking advantage of the simple and user friendly EV architecture, they quickly hack the V2G, take it ‘OFF-GRID’ and begin to explore the virtually endless opportunities of this newly created vehicle segment. The V2G [UNLMTD] is born.”

As part of the concept, Nissan’s designers envisioned plug-and-play options and modifications that make it easy to customize the V2G, bio-engineered bacteria that’s used to break down the vehicle’s resin composites to help make the car 100-percent recyclable, advanced photo voltaic skins that cover all major urban structures and provide electric power directly to the network, and a system in which individual vehicles can interlock and form “flocks” for traveling together.

Wild stuff. We can’t wait.

You can see more details and the concepts from other teams at the Design Challenge site.

See our complete 2009 LA Auto Show coverage. 
 
—Rik Paul