The team of six, from NUS' mechanical engineering faculty, are the only Southeast Asian team at the competition, to be held in southern France from May22 to May24.

Their eco-friendly car - NUS-ECO1 - runs on a synthetic liquid fuel, or gas-to-liquids fuel, which is derived from natural gas and burns cleaner than conventional fuel, releasing less greenhouse gases.

They look to be the only team using the gas-to-liquids fuel in the competition.

The cars will be judged on how fuel-efficient they are.

Last year's winner from Denmark managed some 300km on just one litre of fuel.

It will be a tough record to beat - the NUS-ECO1 runs for about 100km on one litre of fuel.

It took the team 10 months to build its 3.04m-long car, which is powered by a 211cc engine, and reaches a top speed of 45kmh.