one image, multiple sprites, different colors?

[sparr]

Good idea. I did work on nixie-tubes and saw how the cars work. That seems like such a hack though, especially with the car icons appearing on the map.

[mrvn]

Other things that change colors at runtime are:

Centrifuge can change color depending on recipe.
Lamp can change color to signal input.

You can place your entity and add a hidden constant combinator and a lamp at the same spot and use the lamp to add a tint to the entity according to what you set in the constant combinator.

[posila]

I am sorry, if you are gonna necro 4 year old thread, make it the best answer to the topic possible. You mention weird complex solution, and completely omit simple ones - like usage of entities that have runtime color property (but didn't in 2016), or usage or script rendering interface. Locking the thread.