Magna unquestionably has the technical talent necessary to engineer its own EV. It already supplies the entire propulsion system to the electric Ford Focus launching this year.

WardsAuto writers pass along the buzz at this week’s SAE 2012 World Congress in Detroit.

Hybrids accounted for 3.1% of light-vehicle sales through March. EVs represented a fraction of that, just 0.5%, WardsAuto data shows.

GM’s Micky Bly calls on automobile engineers attending this year’s SAE World Congress to continue to push for common standards to speed up deployment of the smart grid.

One SAE panelist, noting gas-tax revenue is not keeping up with the cost of maintaining roads, proposes in-vehicle monitoring technology to penalize bad drivers and reward good ones.

Ford and Toyota say internal-combustion engines will continue to be the dominant powertrain in the near- to mid-future.