New York Times: Sooner or, more likely, later the electric car could render thousands of companies superfluous here in the heart of Japan’s auto parts region. No more engines. No call for exhaust pipes. Spark plugs? Gone with the electric-car wind. Or so, in essence, warns a recent widely circulated study that predicts the eventual demise of much of Hamamatsu’s gasoline engine economy. Spurred by that study and a general sense of foreboding, carmakers, parts factories and local governments in this sprawling industrial…