Tesla Motors thinks it can"America seems to have finally woken up to the need to address global warming and our oil dependency."

While it may sound like Al Gore has started selling cars, that statement actually comes from Diarmuid O'Connell, Tesla Motors' director of corporate marketing. O'Connell, who worked on national security matters under former Secretary of State Colin Powell, is explaining to me why the Tesla Roadster, an all-electric vehicle with a 250-mile range that can do zero to 60 in a neck-snapping 4 seconds, is more than just a really kickin' electric sports car.

"We're working on American foreign policy by other means here," adds O'Connell.

An automaker that is shunning Big Oil? Impossible, right?

Normally I'd say yes, but as I've come to realize, Tesla Motors is not your average car company. And the Roadster, the company's first production vehicle, is not your average car.

Tesla Motors is the most non-car car company I have ever come across. Situated in the midst of Northern California's Silicon Valley in a non-descript warehouse filled with cubicles, early 1900s electric car ads and a hangarlike garage bay, Tesla employs a crossbreed of dot-commers, sports car enthusiasts, car industry veterans and folks who are just out to change the world. The company's CEO and driving force, Martin Eberhard, has never made a car before, and the company's main financier, Elon Musk of PayPal fame, is an environmentalist with the means to make a difference.

Eberhard, fresh from the sale of his startup Nuvomedia, was interested in finding a sports car that would fit with his environmental philosophy. After much research into alternative fuels and several "well to wheels" studies (a comprehensive accounting of the entire energy used in a vehicle's creation, fueling and eventual disposal), he concluded that electric vehicles (EVs) were the only way to go. His quest eventually led him to AC Propulsion, a Southern California outfit that was building an EV called the T-Zero. The engineers at AC then introduced Eberhard to Musk, who was in the midst of his own EV awakening. The two teamed up, modeling their company on what they knew best, and Tesla Motors was born.

"We're kind of half Silicon Valley startup, half car company" says Mike Harrigan, vice president of customer service and support. "From a technology point of view, this car couldn't have been made anywhere else. The battery pack itself has 12 computers in it. No other electric car has ever had this kind of system in it."

The battery system that Harrigan is referring to is at the heart of the Roadster. The ESS (electrical storage system) is made up of 6,831 lithium-ion battery cells, the kind found in most computers and cell phones. The engineers chose this technology because it was readily available and a tried-and-true workhouse within the electronics industry. The packs are expected to last in excess of 100,000 miles. For those who question the environmental impact of all those batteries, fear not. "People who buy these cars can rest assured that the battery will be completely recycled," notes Harrigan. "We've identified a company that will recycle the batteries, and prepay their fee out of the cost of the car."