Many people are skeptical (or derisive, or indifferent) about the possibility of producing vehicles that are exponentially more fuel efficient than the petroleum-gulping status quo that we have now. Some think that efficient vehicles must by default be underpowered, under-performing and unexciting to drive. Environmentalists’ dreams to the contrary are pipe dreams, they say. Silly.

Well, the naysayers have now been proven wrong. Witness the arrival of the Tesla Roadster (it actually debuted last July), an all-electric powered car with a top speed of 135 mph, performance clocking in at 0 - 60 mph in about four seconds (almost as quick as a Lamborghini Murcielago), a driving range averaging 250 miles—and all this performance for only about one cent per mile.

Contrast that with a gasoline powered car. Let’s say you get an average of 30 miles per gallon. At around $2.60 per gallon (sometimes more), your fuel cost per mile is 8.6 cents per mile (sometimes more). So the Tesla Roadster is more than eight times as efficient—more than eight times less expensive to drive. And for those of us who are not solely motivated by self interest, there’s another great bonus: this car produces one-tenth the pollution of those gasoline powered sports cars, when you factor in the environmental burden of producing the electricity.

The naysayers will point to the $100,000 price tag of the Tesla and say, “Yeah, right. Yet another example of how you can’t produce a super-efficient car for an affordable price.” But consider this: The Tesla Roadster had an initial production run of only 100 cars. Now what if we were to give this vehicle a production run of 100,000 cars? Or maybe one million cars? Do you suppose that a car like this could be produced at an affordable price, as compared with a gasoline powered car? I think the answer is pretty obvious.

So let the Sean Hannitys, the Rush Limbaughs, the Ann Coulters and the rest of the assorted right wing pundits and camp followers snicker and make snide remarks about “those crazy, wacko environmentalists” who are supposedly living in a fantasy world. Let them proudly boast of their God-given “right” to drive 12 or 8 mile per gallon dinosaurs, belching out tons of destructive carbon dioxide and hydrocarbons. Let them have their bloody, heartless oil war. (Okay, let’s not let them have it.) I think I know who the crazy wackos are.

Check out the Tesla Roadster here. I think I want one!