I'm a car guy. I like the smell, the feel and the look of a great sports car. I love the sound. I think I can appreciate almost any car − my Rolls and Lambo share space in the garage with a Smart car. My wife is not a car person: to her, cars are just transportation.

I've just spent a weekend driving the all-electric Tesla. All electric means it has no smell (there's no gas or oil), no engine to look at and tinker with, and there's no sound − and when I say no sound, I mean it is deathly quiet. Every time I started it, my passenger would say "are you sure it's on? "

I could never quite get my mind around this. My wife could not care less. As far as she's concerned, it's electric, so it's good for the environment, and it drives.

And as an electric car, the Tesla is amazing, but if we forget the electric part, it needs to be judged just as a car. And as a car, it is okay.

Before all the eco folks start yelling at my disregard for the environment, remember that mass consumer electric cars are getting closer to production. Not just niche players like Tesla or Fisker, but Audi and Mercedes. There are all-electric concept versions of the Audi R8 and the stunning new Mercedes SLS. I even hear rumours of an electric Lamborghini!

But these are still a few years away. Nobody can be sure of just when they might be ready.
The Nissan Leaf and the gas-assisted Chevy Volt are much closer to production, but those are
not sports cars. Like I said, I'm a car guy and I love to drive. I want something that stirs me.

The Tesla is built on a Lotus chassis so that it is very light, using less power to make it move more quickly. This means it is very small, cramped even. I am not a big guy by any means, but when my wife and I went for a ride (and she is much slimmer than me), I told her to not wear her winter coat so there would be room for us in the cabin!

We drove the car on a cold February weekend in Toronto. The Tesla may be capable with its winter tires, but it would be much better in the summer with its top down. Its cramped seating meant that there were too many compromises for my wife to be comfortable, so as transportation, it didn't work for her.

Because it is primarily a sports car, it is also very low to the ground with very stiff suspension and you feel every single bump. But this is, in reality, an electric version of a Lotus.

There are people who love that tiny English sports car feel, but I am not one of them. This just felt squished. My Smart car feels roomier.

The performance, however, is nothing like a Smart. It's much more Lamborghini. Zero to 100 km/h in 3.7 seconds is very fast. The power is immediate: There is no lag because there are no gears and no clutch, and maximum torque is available at any point in the power band. While more horsepower gives more top speed, more torque gives more acceleration, and with the Tesla you just press the pedal and go − really fast!

The performance is truly awe-inspiring. There are not many four-wheeled vehicles you can buy at this $125,000 price point that can go that fast, however they're powered. And because there is always maximum torque available, the power continues whatever your speed: This car feels as fast going from 100 km/h to 160 km/h as it does from a standstill. Impressive!

Everyone wanted to see under the hood, but there's nothing there. Nothing. No valves, no pistons or block − nothing except a pair of fans, a radiator and some wiring. In the back, there's a small storage area and the battery pack. The motor is the size of a watermelon and is hidden beneath the battery so you can't see it. "So what?" said my wife. "Who wants to see the motor anyway?"

Well, I do − and I want to hear it!

I don't think that in the future the big deal for electric power will be with sport cars; I think that it will be the power source for basic transportation, the sedans and "normal cars" that we drive just to get around.

After all, my daily driver is a Cadillac Escalade. I just want it to go and I don't really care how it sounds, and I've never looked under its hood.

I predict that 15 years from now, the majority of cars will be electric powered − the need for a gas alternative is just too compelling − but they'll still be best suited for a two-car family.

This future family might use the electric car as the commuter, driving easily within the Tesla's 350-km range of the battery, and use the gas-powered car for travelling greater distances when needed.

Or, for the car guys, the gas-powered car will be the sports car − for those of us who want the feel, the look, the smell and the sound.

The Tesla is an impressive electric car, but it's not for me. Its greatest advantage is that permanent maximum torque, but this can be achieved in a conventional sports car with good driving, some thought to the task at hand, and judicious use of the gears.

And I am not sure I understand its future market niche. If I want an electric sports car, I'll wait for a more comfortable model, perhaps from Mercedes or Ferrari or Lamborghini. After all, at $125,000, this is a high-end sports car price.

As eco-friendly transportation, my wife would not buy it: It's just way too small and impractical for her.

So where does it fit then? There's always someone who wants the first of everything on the block and who has the means to pay for it. Think eco-entrepreneur or computer-rich guy, but not someone who is already a car guy.

I just can't shake the feeling that the Tesla's only novelty is that it is the first electric car. It will keep this exclusivity for a while, but not for all that much longer as the established brands work fast to produce their own models. Will its novelty allow it to survive?

Robert Herjavec may be a car guy, but he's also president of The Herjavec Group, and a dragon on CBC's Dragons' Den, and a shark on ABC's Shark Tank.