A new petrol car that costs as much as a Tesla won't vibrate and shudder, nor will it be limited to one hundred horsepower. Nor will it have an engine block made of iron.<p>On the hypothetical warm summer day, the Tesla will consume electricity, and reduce driving range, sitting in traffic if the air conditioning is operating to keep the occupants comfortable.<p>Bring your tesla to my city, which is not a little hick town - there are 1.2 million people here. Drive to the nearest supercharger, which is about 200 km away (and yet in a smaller town!) Tell me how that works out for you.<p>A new petrol car will indeed emit CO and NOx in the few minutes before it warms up. After that, you can certainly breathe the air with little harm as everything emitted are components of the atmosphere. And it will stay that way for at least 150,000 km, probably 200,000 km.<p>Have you ever tried to deliberately select a gear that would cause the engine crankshaft to spin too fast? Did you succeed? If so, was it easy, and did you really believe that the force required to do so signalled to you that there was nothing wrong with doing this? (I taught my wife to drive a manual shift in two hours. She's not mechanically inclined.)<p>Will your tesla really never need repairs? If so this is exciting technology. I would like to see proof of batteries that do not age or wear out, and rolling bearings that will last forever.