Welcome to the future. Source: Supplied Source: Supplied

But if you have the money, you can buy the future of motoring today. The future of motoring is the Tesla Model S.

Never heard of Tesla? It’s a car company, wait a technology company, no both — owned by Elon Musk, the genius behind PayPal and Space X. The company originally started with a sports car, the Tesla Roadster which used their own advanced battery technology with a body built by Lotus.

Tesla is revolutionising the way we drive. Source: Supplied Source: Supplied

Now the company has its own factory where it builds the Model S, its first completely designed, engineered and built car.

The Model S looks, drives and feels like nothing else. The exterior is subtle, yet people know it is something special, with heads turning at the car wherever you go.

The interior is a tech geeks heaven. Everything is controlled via a 17-inch touch screen panel that looks just like a giant iPad. On there, you can control everything from the music and GPS to your climate control and even the height of the car. Yes, you can even make your car get higher or lower to avoid scraping the bottom.

The digital heart of the new Tesla model. Source: Supplied Source: Supplied

That air suspension technology is so cool that last year the company issued a software updated wirelessly to fix a problem. That is the future of fixing a problem in your car.

The dash is completely digital, displaying how much range you have left on your battery, your speed and when you are using navigation it shows direction right there so you don’t have to look into the centre console.

Cars will come with a SIM card for streaming Pandora radio, and Google Maps. Both work as expected, and having Pandora built right in without the need for messing around with a phone makes everything much more fluid.

However, despite all the cool tech inside, the interior is also where Tesla shows its lack of experience with building cars. Starting at $100,000 for the base model you expect quality build and finish throughout, but unfortunately the Model S misses the mark in a few places. For one, there are still hard plastics used in various locations which take away from the premium feeling of the car. The drive selector is also put off the steering wheel like an old column stick and significantly detracts from the futuristic experience the car goes for.

It’s easy to forget all that when you’re actually driving the car though. Because it’s an electric car, it means you have all of the car’s torque from the second you put your foot down. That is acceleration like nothing else ever experienced. It’s even crazier when you consider that there is zero noise from the engine and none from the exhaust because, well, there isn’t one.

With that torque wherever you need it, it means that you can always overtake someone up a hill if you need, or swiftly and silently pull the car through corners if you’re up for some spirited driving.

The battery-charge plug in from the 2012 Tesla Model S. Source: Supplied

Because the car’s batteries are all placed just below the floor, it means that most of its weight is as low as possible, giving the car an excellent centre of gravity. And of course, an excellent centre of gravity means an excellent handling car.

And because its engine and power source is underneath the car, it leaves a boot both up the front and at the rear of the car for people to use.

While traditionally electric cars have been bashed for having poor driving range, the base Model S can go up to 370km between charges and the flagship model can get nearly 500km. More than enough for most trips. Tesla is also building a network of its ‘Superchargers’ up the East Coast of Australia. The Superchargers can charge the car up in around 40 minutes and will allow people to drive from Melbourne to Brisbane without worrying about running out of power.

It certainly isn’t cheap, starting at just over $100,000 drive away for the base model and around $170,000 for the top model. But that’s what makes it great. Unlike early Prius’s, Nissan Leaf’s and Holden Volt’s whose petrol competitors are significantly cheaper, Tesla has made a car that embraces electric engine technology that is better in nearly every way than its direct competitors at around the same price range.

Being a car enthusiast, I have always been sceptical of electric cars, but after driving Model S I am a convert. It’s bursting to the rim with technology and has breathtaking performance like no other car.

I am officially excited for the future of motoring.