The OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturers) are after a single bullet -- a one-size-fits-all powertrain solution," said Chris Cowland, technical director of AVL Powertrain Engineering Inc. The company helps carmakers design new engines. "But in reality that's not going to happen."
The panel, composed of engine experts from AVL, Honda and BMW, and fuel experts from Shell and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, said the future of the automobile will involve gasoline, hybrid, diesel and ethanol, one panel of engineers concluded. That will happen within two to five years. After that, chaos will reign in the world's fuel markets, they predicted.

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"We're going through a paradigm shift," said Jeff Alson, a senior policy analyst with the EPA's air quality office. "In a $60 (a barrel) oil world, I think you'll see a lot more fuels become competitive. And there will be an array of powertrains available."
The future "gas" station might even sell hydrogen, eventually. But, the experts decided, by 2015 North American fuel stations will probably offer as many different kinds and grades of fuel as an upscale deli does olive oil.
The high price of future oil and the lack of a clear alternative is going to force automakers to build a variety of powertrains so consumers can decide for themselves what they can afford.

You may recall that we had a diary here, can't recall who wrote it, 6 or 7 months ago that pointed out a number of venture capital backed startups that were investing in the alternative fuel area.  I haven't seen any data on this yet, but with investors becoming more and more convinced that the price of oil might actually stabilize at $60/barrell (likely eventually Jerome's $100), this of course means that higher cost alternative fuels, and all of the infrastructure required to support them, may now be justified.  That will (maybe has) open the floodgates of investment dollars coming into this area.  Imagine the somewhat boring area of retail gasoline (gas stations) turning to look anything like Starbucks (forgive the hyperbole).  But the opportunity for dramatic shifts in automotive market shares, for new logistic channels.  It looks like the investment side of alternate approaches may be starting to happen.  At the same time, if the unlikely event happened of the price of oil falling back into the $30--40/barrel, this could quell that investment enthusiasm significantly, and lead to big losses for those that moved ahead--I'm definitely not predicting that, just giving some flavor to the thinking of "early stage" investors.