NBC NEWS- Most of us are lucky if our car gets 30 miles per gallon, but there are cars being built right now that get nearly 3,000 miles per gallon.

They're just experimental prototypes for now but car and oil companies are betting money that these super-efficient cars could be the ride of the future.

"If everybody was driving them, I think it would make the environment a lot cleaner," said student engineer Hillary Ropponen.

The eco marathon held in Southern California this month was not sponsored by an environmental group, but rather by Shell Oil.

Shell is sponsoring contests like this all over the world to see who can design the most fuel-efficient car. The cars that have been created are very small, however.

This year's record was set by student engineers from Mater Dei High School in Evansville, Illinois whose car got 2,843 miles per gallon of regular gas.

No one knows exactly when you'll be seeing cars like these at your local dealership but with incentives like global warming and $4 per gallon gas they could be a reality sooner than we think.