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But also by the rest of the auto industry, too. Toyota has just announced that it is moving to Li-ion batteries for all its hybrids.

With that kind of demand and volume, you can expect the costs to keep falling and performance to keep rising.

With that rate of improvement, why not wait until batteries are at their peak and just make a hybrid now? Musk explains:

"We're more interested in extending the range of the battery car to the point where it can get up to 400-500 miles on a single charge.

"Why would you ever need a hybrid? There might be occasional situations once every six months when you need to go on a longer trip but then it's just cheaper to rent an SUV or something else for that trip."

With petrol prices still climbing and acceptable emissions levels falling, you can see how a range of silent cars that does the equivalent of 100mpg+ and makes no muck could catch on.

But there must be something that could put a spanner in Tesla's works, a ghost in the machine.

Musk again: "Nothing is going to stop us from making the Roadster work. There are only little technology hurdles that need to be overcome as we build up the production line and do safety testing.

"For WhiteStar [the four-door family saloon] there's a little bit of work to be done to reduce the cost of the battery pack. But again, I don't see anything stopping us from producing that car in 2009. Where I think it does get a lot tougher is making the battery pack for the $30,000 car."

Knowing Musk's track record, I don't think that'll remain a problem for long. He seems to be a solutions kinda guy. When I asked why people would even buy Teslas he said because they're cool.

"People will buy the car just because it's a great car. We want them to think it's excellent value for money and then, oh yeah, it happens to be electric."

Plug-in cars cool? It'll take a while, but it could just happen. Imagine that.