TBH I think it will go one further than that - there will be a move to
series hybrids, which have electric transmission just like a
diesel-electric locomotive, with added regenerative braking to charge
the batteries.

The obvious approach would be to put motors in the wheels, like they
do on electric streetcars. But apparently motors are heavy, and that
would make the unsprung weight of the car undesirably high, so they'd
have to put the motors in the body, with fiddly universal joints to
connect them to the wheels. But unless they are a lot more fuel
efficient than current hybrids I wouldn't bother. I have the US
hybrid version of the Ford C-Max, which gets about 48 mi/G (imperial
gallon), and the UK non-hybrid version is rated at 55.

Do electric trolly buses have motors in the wheels like streetcars?
I'd think that the greater overall weight would make the unsprung
weight issue less important.