Tesla delivers first Semis to Pepsi, reveals some new details

Tesla delivered its first electric semis to PepsiCo Thursday, more than three years after Elon Musk said his company would start making the trucks.

The Austin, Texas, company formally delivered the trucks in a “delivery event” at a factory near Reno, Nevada. The event was livestreamed, including on Twitter, which Musk now owns.

Musk drove one of three Tesla Semis in front of a crowd inside the factory. One was white, one was painted with a Pepsi logo, and another with Frito-Lay colors.

PepsiCo, which is based in Purchase, New York, is taking part in a zero-emissions freight project at a Frito-Lay facility in Modesto, California. That project is being funded by a $15.4 million clean-freight technology grant from the California Air Resources Board that includes 15 Tesla battery-electric tractors and other electric- and natural-gas powered trucks.

Electric semis also would be eligible for a federal tax credit of up to $40,000.

At an event in November of 2017 unveiling the Tesla Semi, Musk said production would begin in 2019 and the trucks would be able to follow each other autonomously in a convoy. But during Tesla’s third-quarter earnings conference call in October he said the company’s “Full Self Driving” system is not quite ready to be driverless.

“It’s been a long journey, a long five years,” Musk said, “but this is going to really revolutionize the roads.”

Musk said the truck has a tri-motor powertrain, based on the same one in the Model S/X Plaid. One of the drive units operates on the highway for maximum efficiency, while the other two units engage when torque and acceleration is called for, say when tackling a grade. A video clip shown during the event (above) showed the truck pulling a 6% grade on Donner Pass, and passing traffic.

The truck’s regenerative capabilities capture energy and keep speed in check on a downhill grade, preventing the threat of brake failure and a runaway truck, Musk said — “a significant safety improvement for the truck driver and the other people on the road.”

Of the motors, Musk said, “One of them is more powerful than the diesel engine on a semi truck.” (The drive unit in a Tesla Model S Plaid has an output of 1,020 horsepower and 1,050 pound-feet of torque. A diesel semi typically has around 500-600 horsepower, but its torque can range from 1,000 to 2,000 pound-feet.)

Musk said that when the tractor is being driven without a trailer, it’s “like an elephant moving like a cheetah.”

Musk said the truck has a range per charge of 500 miles (800 kilometers) when pulling an 82,000-pound (37,000-kilo) load. The normal load limit for a semi is 80,000 pounds, but Musk said an extra 2,000 pounds is allowed for an electric truck.

Musk said the company successfully completed a 500-mile test of the Semi‘s driving range on Nov. 15 between Fremont and San Diego. The company plans to ramp up Semi production to make 50,000 trucks in 2024 in North America.

To service the Semi, Musk said Tesla has developed a “megawatt-class” V4 DC Supercharger that’s “next-generation liquid-cooled,” allowing a user to “shove a megawatt” through a typically sized charging cable — “it’s going to be used for Cybertruck, too.” The charger is promised for next year.

Competitors working on hydrogen-powered semis say battery-powered trucks won’t work for long-haul carriers because it will take too long to recharge the huge batteries. Musk said hydrogen isn’t needed for heavy trucking. Musk said Tesla’s interest in the Semi was based in the fact that commercial trucking amounts to 20% of transportation greenhouse emissions, and 33% of particulates.

Tesla said its other vehicles would used the powertrain in the Semi, and that the company will use the truck in its own supply chain to ship auto components.

Lordstown Endurance pickup customer deliveries begin

If we can believe what we read, Lordstown Motors has made it past the next hurdles to becoming a real auto manufacturer. The electric truck company announced its Endurance pickup has received homologation certifications from the EPA and the California Air Resources Board (CARB), opening the gates to retail sales. What’s more, the first customer deliveries “are leaving the Foxconn EV Ohio plant for customer delivery.” Production at the plant began in August, Lordstown saying it wanted to deliver 50 to customers before the end of the year, and as many as 450 more in the first quarter of next year. Earlier this month, the company had managed to build 12 units, acknowledging a slow ramp-up as it focused on ensuring quality and dealing with parts constraints. The pace is expected to climb through the end of 2022.

And in a year where six of the nine North American Car, Utility and Truck of the Year finalists are battery-electric vehicles, the Endurance is one of the three finalists in the truck category — all three of which happened to be the semifinalists, too. The Ohio pickup is up against the Ford F-150 Lightning and Chevrolet Silverado ZR2 for the judges’ honors in January.

According to the last timeline we got, the production goal through to the end of 2023 is 3,000 units. Achieving this still depends on finding the cash, even after making a new investment deal with production partner Foxconn that could put as much as $170 million into company coffers, assuming the deal passes regulatory oversight. In the meantime, kudos to Lordstown.

Mercedes-Benz celebrates 40 years of the first Baby Benz

Mercedes-Benz’s lineup changed significantly in late 1982. By launching a new entry-level model called W201 internally and Baby Benz colloquially, the Stuttgart-based company made its cars accessible to a much wider audience and considerably increased its annual sales.

Although the first W201 saw the light that awaits at the end of a production line in December 1982, the idea of expanding the Mercedes range towards the bottom had ricocheted through the firm’s research and development department for many decades. In 1948, Mercedes developed a 145-inch long two-door sedan with a Ponton-like design. It didn’t reach production. Mercedes tried again in the 1950s: its board gave an entry-level model the green light in 1953, and several prototypes were built, but the project reached a dead end. It took several more tries (and pressure from regulators to improve the range’s average fuel economy rating) before the W201 became a reality.

In the early 1980s, the boxy W201 looked completely out of place parked next to a W126 and a W123 in a Mercedes showroom. And yet, in hindsight it blazed the path that later additions to the firm’s portfolio followed. The W124 released in late 1984 (and later turned into the first-generation E-Class) looked like a jumbo-sized W201, and this angular design language permeated the R129-generation SL as well as the W140 that ended its career as the first S-Class. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder; you could easily argue there’s absolutely nothing sexy about a W201 but you could just as easily argue it’s characterized by an elegant design that’s relatively simple, pure, and functional. 

From the driver’s perspective, the W201 felt like the scaled-down Mercedes sedan that it was. The seats were developed with a focus on comfort, the instrument cluster was clearly legible, and most of the controls were grouped on the center stack. With that said, going from, say, a W123 to a W201 required picking up a new habit: the emergency brake was a lever located on the center console rather than a pedal.

In the United States, the W201 made its debut as a 1984 model with two available engines. The cheapest member of the range (which, in turn, became the most affordable Mercedes) was the 190E powered by a 2.3-liter four-cylinder engine rated at 113 horsepower and 133 pound-feet of torque, though those figures increased to 120 and 136, respectively, for 1985. Next up was the 190D, whose naturally-aspirated, 2.2-liter four-cylinder diesel engine developed 72 horsepower and 96 pound-feet of torque. Rear-wheel-drive and a five-speed manual transmission came standard regardless of fuel type, and buyers who didn’t want to shift could pay extra for a four-speed automatic.

Pricing started at $22,850 for the 190E and $22,930 for the 190D, figures that represent approximately $65,600 and $65,800 in 2022. In comparison, Volkswagen charged $6,530 (around $18,800 in 2022) for an entry-level Rabbit that year and a 2022 C-Class starts at $43,550.

The W201 was an instant hit, and its success encouraged Mercedes to launch additional variants in the 1980s. The 1986 model year brought a 16-valve, 167-horsepower evolution of the 2.3-liter four-cylinder and a 2.5-liter, 93-horsepower five-cylinder diesel. In 1987, the first six-cylinder-powered W201 landed in American showrooms as the 190E 2.6. It used the W124’s 158-horsepower straight-six. The range grew across the Atlantic as well, and Mercedes even took the W201 racing in a bid to dethrone the original, E30-based BMW M3.

Gasoline or diesel, four, five, or six cylinders, and automatic or manual; there were numerous ways to configure a W201. What never changed was the body style: throughout its career, the model was exclusively offered as a four-door sedan. Mercedes experimented with several different prototypes, including a pillar-less two-door convertible (shown in our gallery), but none were approved for production.

Most variants of the W201 carried the 190 nameplate (on its own to designate a carbureted engine, followed by an “E” to designate a fuel-injected gasoline engine, or followed by a “D” to designate a diesel engine) but there was one exception. In the early 1990s, Mercedes sold a stripped-down, entry-level variant of the W201 called 180E on the Australian market that was powered by a 1.8-liter four-cylinder engine.

W201 production ended in 1993 after about 1.87 million units were built. The sedan passed the torch to the original C-Class, which was called W202 internally and became the first compact Mercedes offered as a station wagon. While the 190 was considered a cheap, robust, and disposable car for many decades, it’s slowly but surely becoming sought-after by enthusiasts around the world and values are consequently increasing. Many were driven into the ground so finding a clean, well-kept example has become easier said than done.

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2022 BMW 3.0 CSL is a manual, rear-wheel-drive throwback to the 1970s

BMW is giving enthusiasts something to be very thankful for this Thanksgiving. The company’s M division unveiled a heritage-inspired limited-edition model called 3.0 CSL that was designed as a tribute to the original 3.0 CSL, one of BMW’s most emblematic models.

Introduced in early 1972 to homologate the E9 in the European Touring Car Championship, the CSL designation stood for “coupé sport leichtbau,” which means “coupe sport lightweight” in German. Fast-forward 50 years, and the born-again CSL stays true to tradition: It’s a coupe, it’s certainly sporty, and we’re promised it’s light thanks to the widespread use of carbon fiber. BMW M stresses that it developed the 3.0 CSL in-house on its own, this is not merely an M4 with a body kit, and it ensured the coupe is street-legal in European markets.

Visually, the 3.0 CSL looks more like BMW’s modern-day coupes than like its predecessor; this isn’t a full-on retro-styled car with round headlights. However, there are a handful of clear visual links between the two CSLs including flared fenders and quarter panels, a roof-mounted spoiler made with fiberglass-reinforced plastic, and a rear wing shaped like the unit fitted to the original car. As a side note, the 1972 3.0 CSL’s wing earned it the nickname “Batmobile” and wasn’t approved for road use (spoilers were a novelty at the time) so BMW couldn’t deliver the car with it. Instead, the company placed the spoiler in the trunk and asked owners to get it installed on their own.

Back to the present: Most of the 3.0 CSL’s body panels (including the roof panel, trunk lid, and sills) are made with carbon fiber, and the coupe rides on specific 20-inch front and 21-inch rear center-locking wheels wrapped by tires that Michelin developed specifically for it. The blue, red, and Alpine White livery is a throwback to the 1970s, and it doesn’t sound like BMW will make other color combinations available.

The cabin looks familiar if you’ve spent time in BMW’s recent models, but there are some cool features scattered throughout. One is the shift knob, which is finished in white and engraved with the shift pattern as well as the number 50. Carbon fiber trim reminds the driver and one passenger of the car’s lightweight construction. We say “one passenger” because there are no rear seats. Instead, the space behind the M carbon bucket front seats is reserved for a storage compartment designed for racing helmets. And while BMW took out a great deal of the sound-deadening material to save weight, the 3.0 CSL offers features like air conditioning and a touchscreen-based infotainment system.

Power for the 3.0 CSL comes from a 3.0-liter straight-six built with a forged lightweight crankshaft and competition-derived cooling and oil supply systems. The twin-turbocharged engine is related to the unit found in the current-generation M3 and M4, but it’s tuned to develop 560 horsepower and 404 pound-feet of torque; BMW proudly notes this is the most powerful straight-six it has ever put in a street-legal car. The engine spins the rear wheels via a six-speed manual transmission, and you’re out of luck if you want all-wheel drive, an automatic, or both.

For context, the original 3.0 CSL (shown above) used a naturally-aspirated, 3.2-liter straight-six rated at 206 horsepower and celebrated as BMW M’s most powerful six-cylinder to date. That was a lot of power in that era; a base 2002 shipped with a 100-horsepower engine.

BMW hasn’t released performance numbers, but the 3.0 CSL should be as quick as it sounds. It should also offer the handling fans expect from an M-branded coupe thanks in part to an Adaptive M suspension system and an electromechanical steering system with a variable ratio. The standard carbon-ceramic braking system includes six-piston front calipers and rotors bigger than the original 3.0 CSL’s wheels.

Production of the 3.0 CSL is limited to 50 units, a number chosen because BMW M turned 50 in 2022, but none will be officially sold in the United States. Each example will be identified by its serial number engraved into a piece of carbon fiber trim on the passenger’s side of the dashboard and should take about three months to build; many of the carbon fiber parts scattered across the cabin are notably hand-made.

Haven’t we been here before?

BMW has used the CSL nameplate several times in the past five decades, but never on a car with a heritage-inspired design; at least not one bound for production. It experimented with the idea of a modern-day 3.0 CSL in 2015 when it introduced a pair of concepts named 3.0 CSL Hommage and 3.0 CSL Hommage R, respectively. Both were arguably closer to the original car in terms of design than the 2022 model.

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Motorvogue set to join Peugeot franchise with addition of Desira Group site

Motorvogue is set to join the Peugeot franchise with the addition of Desira Group’s franchise in Bury St Edmunds after vowing to accelerate its Stellantis car dealership improvements with a further £2 million investment.

The Northampton-based car retail group has said it will follow-up June’s opening of a new Alfa Romeo and DS showroom in Norwich and July’s opening of a new Fiat, Abarth and Citroën site in Bury St Edmunds with the investment in site openings and refurbishments over the next three years.

And the addition of more Peugeot franchises forms part of a plan that will grow its dealership portfolio from 30 to 35 locations.

Motorvogue managing director Jon Pochin Managing director Jon Pochin, who first aired his intention to pursue a multi-brand dealership approach in a 2017 dealer profile feature with AM, said: “We’ve made significant investments this year to maintain group momentum, both commercially and in extending our footprint in key territories.

“We’re also continuing to add new franchises for brands that are aligned with our values and ambitions.

“We’re excited about adding a new Peugeot franchise to the fold next May, enhancing the breadth of new car options at our enhanced Bury St Edmunds location.”

Founded in Northampton in 2008 as a solus-brand motor retail operation, Motorvogue now represents 12 brands from 30 showrooms and recorded a turnover of £71.4m in its financial year to the end of June 2021, alongside a profit before tax of £433,700.

This compared to a turnover of £87.1m and a pre-tax loss of £58,839 in the previous, heavily COVID-19 impacted, trading period.

Back in March Motorvogue appointed two new regional directors as part of a growth plan to accelerate its turnover by 70% to £200 million by June 2025.

Guy Twiselton took on the new Midlands and Cambridgeshire division after re-joining the group from Endeavour Automotive, where he was Volvo and Polestar franchise director. He has also held Rockar, Marshall and Ridgeway.

Simon Taylor leads Motorvogue’s Norfolk and Suffolk division after being recruited as a sales director from Cheshire-based Mangoletsi.

Pochin said: “We have a highly engaged team that underpins our growth strategy, and we are actively recruiting at many of our locations.”

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Tesla recalls 321,000 Model 3 and Model Y for taillamp problem

Tesla has issued a recall covering more than 321,000 vehicles due to taillamps that may fail to illuminate. Model Ys from 2020-2023 are included in the recall, but only Model 3 vehicles from the 2023 model year built between October 19 and November 5, 2022, may be affected. Tesla estimates that less than 1% of vehicles on the road in the United States exhibit the defect. Interestingly, Tesla says it “observed customer complaints primarily from foreign markets.”

According to documents posted to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s website, “In rare instances, taillamps on one or both sides of affected vehicles may intermittently illuminate due to a firmware anomaly that may cause false fault detections during the vehicle wake up process. Brake lamps, backup lamps and turn signal lamps are not affected by this condition and continue to operate as designed.”

Naturally, taillamps that remain unlit at night can reduce visibility, both that of the Tesla driver and other motorists sharing the road. As is often the case with Tesla recalls, an over-the-air update will fix the issue, which means owners shouldn’t be required to take their vehicles in to a physical location for servicing. Tesla says vehicles built starting on November 6, 2022, already have the latest firmware that corrects the problem.

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JLR’s agency-driven luxury EV transformation to be overseen by new CEO

Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) will implement its bold agency model car retail and electrification plans under a new chief executive after Thierry Bolloré announced his exit the top job citing “personal reasons”.

Chief financial officer Adrian Mardell, who has been at the firm since 1990 and part of its board since 2019, is expected to be taking over CEO responsibilities at the OEM following Bolloré’s departure at the end of 2022.

JLR announced the news of Bolloré’s exit yesterday (November 16) afternoon, around two years after he took on the role.

The departure of the former Renault Group chief operating officer comes less than two years after he revealed plans to electrify JLR’s model range – with Jaguar becoming fully electric from 2025 – and shift towards a more luxury-focussed focus as part of a new ‘Reimagine’ strategy.

JLR’s period of change will be compounded by a planned shift to agency model retail agreements for its dealers in 2024.

Commenting on his departure, Bolloré said: “I am immensely proud of what we have achieved together at Jaguar Land Rover over the last two years.

“The company’s transformation and acceleration towards a sustainable, profitable future as a modern luxury business is underway at great pace.

“I would like to thank the whole team for their dedication and passion and I wish the entire organisation the very best for the future.”

Natarajan Chandrasekaran, chairman of Tata Motors and JLR, said: “I want to thank Thierry for everything he has done at Jaguar Land Rover.

“The foundations for a successful transformation have been laid, leaving the company well poised for the future.”

Back in February 2021 JLR revealed that it would be axing around 2,000 jobs as it looked to leverage efficiencies as part of its ‘Reimagine’ strategy.

The OEM said that its new direction aimed to make JLR “one of the most profitable luxury manufacturers in the world”, but added that it would have to make “every possible efficiency” in order to achieve the full scope of the plan.

It said at the time: “Jaguar Land Rover is on a path towards double-digit EBIT margins and positive cash flow, with an ambition to achieve positive cash net-of-debt by 2025.”

In an interview with AM this summer JLR UK managing director Rawdon Glover told that “Jaguar Land Rover UK would “transition to a ‘direct to customer’ agency model by 2024”.

He said: “This will improve customer experience and optimise on- and offline touch points in line with our digital transformation, and elevate our iconic brands to the levels of modern luxury determined by our Reimagine strategy.”

Car retailers have already started to voice their concerns that the shift could also usher in a reduction in JLR’s retail network footprint.

One JLR retail group boss told AM: “It would be a huge blow to franchisees who have spent considerable sums on rolling out the Arch Concept and buying neighbouring businesses to help consolidate the network to this point if there were terminations and closures.”

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See How Wiseway Excelled in Safety, Savings, and Service With T-Mobile Fleet Management From Geotab


See How Wiseway Excelled in Safety, Savings, and Service With T-Mobile Fleet Management From Geotab

See How Wiseway Excelled in Safety, Savings, and Service With T-Mobile Fleet Management From Geotab

Over the last 50 years, Wiseway has been slowly growing a fleet of pickups, light and medium-duty trucks and freightliners.

They first reached out to T-Mobile for Business to equip their vehicles with telematics devices that could provide evidence in the case of collision events – but what started as a one-off task soon grew into an ongoing cascade of high-impact benefits.

Learn how Wiseway and T-Mobile’s fleet management from Geotab were able to:

  • Reduce idling time by 44%
  • Reduce speeding by nearly 40%
  • Provide on-the-fly alerts for driver and vehicle safety
  • Execute data-driven decisions at crucial times Implement robust safety management
  • Optimize costs and savings
  • Streamline maintenance operations for efficiency

By T-Mobile

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Tesla may start exporting China-made EVs to U.S. and Canada, sources say

Cars ready for export to overseas markets line the wharf of Taicang Port in Suzhou, near the Tesla plant in Shanghai. (Getty Images)

SHANGHAI — Tesla is considering exporting made-in-China electric cars to the United States, two people with knowledge of the planning told Reuters, a reversal that would reflect the automaker’s deepening cost advantage at its Shanghai plant and slower demand from Chinese consumers.

Tesla has been studying whether parts made by its China-based suppliers are compliant with local regulations in North America, and if they are, could ship China-made Model Y and Model 3 cars for sale there as soon as next year, said the people, who declined to be named as the matter is private.

That could also open a channel for exports to Canada, one of the people said.

Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment. But CEO Elon Musk issued a one-word comment: “False.”

Tesla’s Shanghai Gigafactory has the capacity to produce 1.1 million electric vehicles per year after an upgrade earlier this year, making it Tesla’s most productive manufacturing hub.

The Shanghai plant makes Model 3 sedans and Model Y crossovers to sell in China and for export to markets including Europe, Australia and South East Asia.

Until recently, Tesla had been selling or shipping for export every vehicle it could produce in Shanghai, but inventory levels rose by their largest margin ever in October, according to data from brokerage CMBI.

In addition, factors including a cheaper yuan against the U.S. dollar, lower raw material prices in China and the rise in Tesla and new-car prices in the United States have combined to make exports from China to the United States potentially cost competitive, the people with knowledge of the plans said.

The plan, if enacted, could create new complexity for U.S. buyers. Under the terms of a new electric-vehicle subsidy and production-incentive plan signed into law by U.S. President Joe Biden, the incentive available for an individual vehicle could vary depending on whether it was imported.

It could also be politically contentious. Tesla has been widely seen as one of major beneficiaries of the Biden administration’s Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which offers rebates of up to $7,500 on EV purchases as part of a law intended to push automakers to reduce their reliance on China.

Tesla Chief Financial Officer Zachary Kirkhorn told investors last month that the automaker was “very well-positioned to capture a significant share” of the incentives offered under the IRA for EVs and batteries for energy storage.

Until now, Tesla’s strategy has been to build the cars it sells in North America at its plants in Fremont, California, and Austin, Texas.

The California plant, Tesla’s first, produces the Model S, the Model 3 sedans and the Model X and Model Y crossovers. The Texas plant, which opened earlier this year, makes the Model Y and will produce Tesla’s upcoming Cybertruck.

Tesla is also ramping up production at a plant it opened in Berlin earlier this year. Output from the Berlin plant will reduce the need for some exports from China, one of the sources said.

At the same time, the price gap between Tesla cars sold in China and the United States has been widening, reflecting both higher U.S. prices and new discounts in China.

In China, where CMBI analysts have warned of a coming “price war,” Tesla slashed the starter prices for Model 3 and Model Y in China by as much as 9% last month.

On Monday, it offered an additional rebate for buyers who take delivery this month and buy insurance from one of Tesla’s partners.

Tesla sells the Model Y for the equivalent of $49,344 in China, compared to the U.S. price of $65,990. China-made cars face a 27.5% U.S. tariff, while light-duty trucks face a 25% tariff.

China, the world’s largest auto market, imposes a 15% tariff on imported vehicles.

In 2018, before Tesla’s Shanghai plant was operating, Chief Executive Elon Musk had asked then-President Donald Trump to raise tariffs on cars imported to the United States from China in order to achieve “a fair outcome” where both sides had equivalent and “equally moderate” tariffs.

Tesla would not be the first U.S. automaker to ship made-in-China vehicles to the United States. General Motors has imported the Buick Envision SUV and unsuccessfully petitioned for an exemption to 25% U.S. tariffs imposed by the Trump administration.

Hummingbird hitches 500-mile car ride to warmer weather

Some hummingbirds instinctively fly south when the weather turns cold.

This one hitched a car ride instead.

The tiny rufous hummingbird, measuring only eight centimeters long (just over three inches) and weighing four grams, was the subject of an extensive rescue effort last month in the Canadian community of Prince George, about 500 miles north of Vancouver, B.C.

As told by the CBC, the bird first caught the attention of Clive Keen, an expert bird photographer and author of dozens of essays on the subject. It was first spotted by his wife, Susan, in early October. Because the weather was mild that month, the Keens assumed the hummer was holding off on his journey south until the frost set in.

But when Keen saw the hummingbird again in late October, after a snowfall and with temperatures forecast to 5 degrees above zero Fahrenheit, he thought, “Clearly, it wasn’t going to survive if it stayed around. I kept thinking … ‘Surely, you’re going to take the hint and head off south.’ But no, it kept hanging around in my tree.”

After reaching out to the birder community throughout Canada for advice, he elected to entice the animal into a birdcage. After the Keens spent several hours spent watching and waiting, the bird flew into the cage and was trapped.

So, what did the Keens do next? They fired up their car, turned on the heater, loaded up the cage, and Susan Keen headed south. She drove nine hours to Vancouver. Maybe the hummingbird will head south from there on his own, or maybe he’ll hang around. While Prince George is inland and cold, Vancouver enjoys a milder maritime climate, and some hummingbirds overwinter there. She released the little guy in a park.

“What can you do?” she said. “You’ve got this tiny thing.” If left in the cold, she said, “it has no chance at all.”