"It will be a long time until private cars ..."

You imply that there will be some sort of nice, orderly powering down.

I don't believe that - at least not for those that matter (the rich).

In all honest only a tiny fraction of worlds population ever had a private car - and it's not possible to ever extend such a luxary to the world.

We have a lot of rich people who don't give a damm;
not about other peoples lives - in their own country or
others. They are currently fueling the destruction of China and, in essence, the planet. American delusions of grandure and printing cotton candy money are allowing the destruction to continue.

We will see the destruction of any welfare and social supports as those who have money keep on keeping on regardless of the destruction around them.

The military will go to biofuels as will Walmart and others and it will take food from the mouths of those who are helpless (read cashless).

Remember the carbon footprint of China and India and Indonesia is that of the CONSUMING FIRST WORLD - mostly the USA!

We have cleaned our air by moving all of the dirty mfg work offshore.

The capitalist economic system is utterly without morals or regard for anyone or even the health of the planet. The proof surrounds us and the whirlwind will not stop.

Cars are just one symptom of living an unsustainable life. I personally like the motto of "suppersize me". Ie my car, my body, my house, my possessions, my ego, ...

I see it every day with the god forsaken SUVs delivery obese parents and soon to be obese preschoolers and they're living in homes 2x larger than they need to be ... Often they're within walking distance of the place they are driving too...