Jun 5

Tesla’s groundbreaking distinction is under its carbon-fiber skin. The $98,000 Tesla is the first production high-performance electric car. It is powered entirely by electricity, a plug-in that will never use a drop of gasoline. And it’s billed as being able to go 221 miles in mixed city/highway driving on a full battery charge.

It’s not about promises that the Tesla will deliver pin-you-back-in-your-seat acceleration — 0 to 60 miles per hour in a Ferrari-like 3.9 seconds — or its sexy appearance.

The sports car from San Carlos-based Tesla Motors has European sex appeal with power to match that defies the image of electric vehicles as poky carts for golf courses or senior villages.

Tesla is being touted as the first of a wave of electric cars that will bring the most profound change in the auto industry since the first Model T rolled off Ford Motor’s (F) assembly line 100 years ago. From Toyota (TM) to General Motors, (GM) the quest for clean air and independence from foreign oil is leading to the wall socket.

“It’s in the vanguard of the electric car revolution that is coming,” proclaims Elon Musk, the digital-age tycoon who is Tesla Motors chairman and largest shareholder of Tesla Motors.