Time is starting to run out for the internal combustion engine. No one is saying the pistons and crankshafts that powered automobiles and auto industry for more than a century will disappear right away. But auto makers from Tokyo to Stuggart have reached a surprising consensus on an idea deemed heretical not long ago : a fundamental shift in engine technology is needed. The industry is locked in a brutal race to develop the technology to replace the internal-combustion engine.