The thing is, you can't solve tomorrow's problems with today's thinking. For example...
- - we are assuming that batteries will persist and fuel cells won't become feasible
- - that large numbers will still want to own a car, even if half the other cars might be self driving
- - that we will all travel to work like we do now
- - what if pourable battery fuel, or hot swap batteries, could be incorporated into future designs
- - what if virtual reality reaches a point where travel, except for tourism and visiting relatives, will become an anachronism
I could go on. As fun as this conversation is, it is today's thinking projected 20-40 years out. 40 years ago the number of cars on the road, and miles driven, was a fraction what it is now. 40 years befoore that, car ownership was a kind of luxury, and 40 years before that, cars were powered by steam.
It was widely touted when internet started that there would be a lot of people who need not turn up for work every day and traffic jams would be history. The reality is that pretty much everyone still goes to work and traffic has been made much worse by people buying most things on the internet and courier vans making up probably 30% of traffic.
Air and a lot of business travel was to be made history by video conferencing - air and business travel has increased exponentially.
As for people not wanting to own a car - we will have to wait and see, learning to drive and getting a car was a rite of passage for young people and gave independence to go anywhere at anytime, don't know it that is changing due to high insurance costs, but I would guess the majority of people will still want personal transport.
Fuel cells still better than batteries if you can find a cheap source of hydrogen (or maybe a methane fuel cell).
Getting car makers to standardize on batteries is like trying to herd cats if not harder.
We relied on wind for powering ships up until just over 100 years ago and voyages were long with disease and shipwreck taking many lives - all that was in the past when we could harness steam and diesel, everything became much more safe, much faster and reliable and goods became cheaper - now we are trying to use wind power again, we never learn...........