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Recharge Wrap-up: LA Auto Show may feature updated Cadillac ELR, Uber expands Chicago HQ

A Kentucky man has converted his 1939 Dodge pickup to an electric vehicle. Al Gajda of Lexington built the electric truck, which he now uses as his daily driver. "I take advantage of any excuse to drive it; just banging around town, errands, short runs on the interstate, delivering my granddaughter to school in the morning," he says. It is powered by a lithium-ion phosphate battery, which is mounted in a wooden box on the truck bed, and gets about 100 miles per charge. Read more at the Lexington Herald-Leader. Elon Musk will speak at the Automotive News World Congress in January. The Tesla CEO is a featured speaker for the program, "Setting the Pace in a Thriving Market." The event takes place in Detroit, which could lead to an interesting mix of people in the audience, and Musk will speak on January 13. Read more at Automotive News. Production of the Toyota Rav4 EV has ended. The shipment of the final Toyota EVs concludes Toyota's deal to source batteries from Tesla. Of the 2,600 Rav4 EVs to be produced, there are probably just a few hundred left to be sold, most of which are likely to be gone by the end of October. Read more at Inside EVs. Cadillac will likely show an improved version of the ELR at the Los Angeles Auto Show in November. The 2016 ELR will include unspecified "engineering enhancements," according to Cadillac spokesman David Caldwell. There will be no 2015 model, as the 2014 model will be sold until the 2016 ELR goes on sale in the first half 2015. Read more at Edmunds. Uber executives, along with Illinois Governor Pat Quinn, have announced a major expansion of the ride-hailing company's Chicago headquarters. Uber also plans to add 420 jobs by the end of 2016. "Uber's new expanded headquarters will allow the company to continue its rapid growth and serve its riders and drivers throughout Illinois," says Governor Quinn. Last month, Quinn vetoed legislation that would have put restrictions on companies like Uber in the state. Read more in the press release below. Governor Quinn and Uber Announce Major Chicago Headquarters Expansion Innovative Ridesharing Company to Add 420 Jobs by End of 2016 CHICAGO, Sept. 29, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Governor Pat Quinn and Uber executives today announced that the ridesharing giant is moving forward with creating 420 new jobs by the end of 2016 in a major expansion of its Chicago regional headquarters.

Dodge pumps power to the people with $10 discount per horsepower

Dodge announced an incentive program named Power Dollars, which represents the next step in its mission to bring horsepower to the people. Starting on August 1, the automaker is luring enthusiasts into its showrooms by offering a $10 per horsepower discount on select models. The Power Dollars program applies to the 2019 Challenger (pictured), the 2019 Charger and the 2019 Durango. It's as simple as it sounds: if you buy a 500-horsepower car, you benefit from a $5,000 discount. The more horsepower you choose to put in your garage, the more money you save when you sign the dotted line. The 797-horsepower Challenger Hellcat Redeye comes with a $7,970 discount. At the other end of the spectrum, the Charger SXT powered by a 3.6-liter V6 rated at 292 horsepower is eligible for a $2,920 rebate.  The Grand Caravan has 283 horsepower, so it's not far from the Charger SXT, but it's not included in the program. The Journey with the same 3.6-liter V6 engine isn't in it, either. Dodge launched the Power Dollars program to boost sales, and likely to clear the remaining 2019 models out of its inventory before the 2020s arrive. But the company has another reason to make its muscle cars cheaper, one we don't think we've heard from an automaker yet. "Since bringing the Charger and the Challenger back to the market, Dodge has put 485 million horsepower into the hands of our loyal enthusiasts. The goal is to grow to a half-billion horsepower before the end of the year," explained Tim Kuniskis, the global head of Alfa Romeo, and FCA's head of passenger cars in North America, in a statement. It's 15 million horsepower short of the milestone. It needs to sell about 18,820 examples of the Hellcat Redeye to reach its goal, or approximately 51,370 units of the Charger SXT.   

How fracking is causing Chrysler minivans to sit on Detroit's riverfront

It's fascinating the way that one change to a complex system can have all sorts of unintended consequences. For instance, there are hundreds of new Chrysler Town and County and Dodge Grand Caravan minivans built in Windsor, Ontario, sitting in lots on the Detroit waterfront because of the energy boom in the Bakken oil field in the northern US and parts of Canada.
The huge amount of crude oil coming from these sites mostly use freight trains for transport, and that supply boom has resulted in a shortage of railcars to carry other goods. According to The Windsor Star, North American crude oil transport by train has gone from 9,500 carloads in 2008 to 434,032 carloads in 2013. Making matters worse, some North American rail infrastructure is still damaged because of this year's harsh winter, and that's slowing things down even further.
Chrysler admits to The Star that it has had some delivery delays due to the freight train shortage. In the meantime, it's using more trucks to deliver its vehicles. Trucking is a far less economical solution, partially because a train can carry so many more units at one time, but alternatives are slim. The Windsor plant alone has a deal for 33 trucks to distribute the minivans around Canada and the Midwestern US.