It’s been only a few weeks since President Obama signed the American Clean Air and Energy Security Act of 2009 and like clockwork Chicago hears that it’s about to get a Tesla Motors dealership. Magic? Not quite, but the regional sales and service center located at 1053 W. Grand in the River West neighborhood will soon sell the nation’s only highway-capable, all-electric vehicle.

The Tesla facility is expected to open at the end of this month or early in July. Compared to driving anything else, the $101,500 Tesla Roadster sports car feels like four-wheeled magic. In addition to being one of the cleanest-running cars on the planet, it’s hugely fun to drive.

My chance to drive the 2009 Tesla Roadster came after a visit to the firm’s Menlo Park, Calif., headquarters.

Tesla Motors’ international headquarters is on the site of an abandoned Chevrolet dealership. Where plaid-suited salesmen once sold fuel-swilling Suburbans and Trailblazers, sleek Tesla Roadsters now go through their final assembly and plug in for a fillup at a cost of about $4. One charge takes the little two-seater about 240 miles according to the Environmental Protection Agency.

At the facility I saw several Roadsters under construction, and I was surprised at the size of the massive battery pack. Weighing in at almost half a ton, the battery array gets delivered in a wooden crate the size of a stand-alone residential freezer. Carefully arranged within the massive assembly are 6,831 individual lithium ion battery cells packaged for your protection and their long life. Mercedes-Benz was so impressed with the technical prowess used to create the battery array that it contracted Tesla to build battery packs for the electric version of the tiny smart car.

The chassis for the Tesla Roadster was developed in a partnership with Lotus, and the e-car shares much of its basic underpinnings with the excellent Lotus Elise (from Britain). Compared to the lighter Elise, a diminutive car by any standard, the Roadster is three inches longer, a change made to make room for the battery pack. The Tesla’s totally original body panels (made in France) help the car look bigger as your eyes easily follow the sweeping body lines.

When it was my time to drive a Tesla Roadster after the factory tour, I planned to head due west to California’s dramatic Highway 1. To get started, I first had to get into the Roadster. The car is tiny, but due to the low doorsills it is easy enough to get into. Get used to rubbing shoulders and elbows with the passenger. If you need to take much gear along, you’ll be disappointed because the trunk (located behind the electric motor at the rear of the car) holds about four grocery bags.

Once settled into the comfortable bucket seat, the job of driving the Roadster is easier than most sports cars. Hit the starter button, engage drive and go. The transmission is a single-speed unit, so there’s no need to shift. Just stab the throttle and steer.

It was raining hard when we got to the storied Highway 1, so we waved at the Pacific and headed back inland over some seriously twisted roads. The pint-sized Roadster proved perfectly sized for the narrow two lanes and, on dry pavement, the dynamic Lotus-tuned chassis showed what it was capable of.

The Roadster’s braking capabilities are excellent – but curious. The electric motor that powers the Roadster immediately switches into a generator when you lift off of the accelerator pedal, so when you lift the car slows down immediately as the generator recharges the battery pack. One doesn’t coast in a Tesla. If you lift off the throttle completely, the braking force is significant, but powerful traditional four-wheel disc brakes are at the ready when more whoa is needed. In normal driving, however, I hardly needed to use the brakes at all, except to hold the Roadster still at traffic lights.

With its battery pack, engine and single-speed transmission mounted behind the passenger compartment, the Tesla Roadster uses a rack-and-pinion steering gear without any power assist. The unfiltered feedback is tremendous; you can almost feel the front wheels driving over shadows. Steering response is immediate, and the car goes just where you point it – like right now!

Throttle response is even better. The Roadster’s single electric motor produces the equivalent of 248 horsepower and an impressive 276 pound-feet of torque. The torque is available from the instant you press the vehicle’s start button, and when you press the accelerator the car simply shoots forward. If you’ve ever played with a high-performance remote-control toy car, imagine the same kind of performance, only supersized.

On the streets of Chicago, the Tesla Roadster has the performance chops to out accelerate just about any other car on the road. Tesla quotes that a 0-60 mph sprint takes around four seconds. To put things into perspective, this would be faster than plenty of Porsches and Corvettes.

In case you have any worries about Tesla Motors remaining solvent, Mercedes-Benz just invested in the company, and at the time this story was filed Tesla had already delivered more than 400 Roadsters. A refundable $9,900 deposit secures your spot in line. Visit the company’s Web site at www.TeslaMotors.com.

Rex Roy is a Detroit-based author and freelance journalist. He can be reached at www.RexRoy.net.