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100-year-old Yellowstone ranger station now powered by Camry Hybrid batteries [w/video]

With a new project, Toyota is bringing power to the prairie and finding a way to reuse nickel-metal hydride batteries at the same time. The automaker recently completed assisting Yellowstone National Park's installation of a solar power station at the Lamar Buffalo Ranch to electrify the ranger station and education center there for the first time. Toyota's major part in the system is an array of 208 batteries that are repurposed from old Camry Hybrid sedans, and they can store 85 kilowatt-hours of energy at a time. That's as much as one 85-kWh battery pack from one top-of-the-line Tesla Model S. Toyota figures that the whole setup should generate enough annual electricity for six average US homes, which is plenty for the ranch. For a constant source of power, the site plans to install a micro-hydro turbine in a nearby stream in 2016. Prior to creating the wall of batteries to store all of this energy, Toyota disassembled and tested each one. It also installed a new management system on them to maximize their lifespan. You can get a better idea of what the whole system looks like in the automaker's video, below. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. Toyota Flips the Switch to Sustainable Power at Yellowstone National Park Lamar Buffalo Ranch Renewable, Zero Emission Energy System Is Now Online System Features 208 Re-used Camry Hybrid Batteries May 12, 2015 Torrance, Calif. (May 12, 2015) – The lights are on where the buffalo roam. At the Lamar Buffalo Ranch field campus in Yellowstone National Park, an innovative distributed energy system that combines solar power generation with re-used Camry Hybrid battery packs is now online. The result: reliable, sustainable, zero emission power to the ranger station and education center for the first time since it was founded in 1907. Announced in June 2014, the partnership among Toyota, Indy Power Systems, Sharp USA SolarWorld, Patriot Solar, National Park Service and Yellowstone Park Foundation is an innovative effort to extend the useful life of hybrid vehicle batteries while providing sustainable power generation for one of the most remote, pristine areas in the United States. Solar panels generate the renewable electricity stored within the 208 used Camry Hybrid nickel-metal hydride battery packs, recovered from Toyota dealers across the United States.

Land Rover, Toyota big winners in ALG top resale value awards

"Residual value is important for automakers and consumers because it's a complete indicator of the vehicle's future value." - Larry Dominique
Toyota and Land Rover took home the top brand honors in ALG's 2015 Residual Value Awards, which will be presented this week at the Los Angeles Auto Show.

An early gas-electric hybrid was developed by...Exxon?

We're not sure which aspect of Exxon's 1970s-era efforts to develop advanced and electrified powertrains is the most ironic. There's Exxon, that of the Valdez oil spill infamy, being on the leading edge of hybrids and electric vehicles. There's a boat-like Chrysler Cordova getting 27 miles per gallon. And there's the central role a Volkswagen diesel engine plays in that hybrid development. It's all outlined in an article (linked above) by Inside Climate News, and it's an amusing read. Flush with cash and fearing what it thought was peak oil production in the 1970s, Exxon funded a host of new ventures divisions geared to find alternatives to gas-powered powertrains. In the early 1970s, Exxon lured chemist M. Stanley Whittingham to develop what would become a prototype of a lithium-ion rechargeable battery. Then, in the late 1970s, Exxon pioneered the concept of using an alternating-current (AC) motor as part of a gas-electric hybrid vehicle. The company retrofitted a Chrysler Cordova (yes, that's the model Ricardo Montalban used to hawk) with a powertrain that combined 10 Sears Die-Hard car batteries, an alternating current synthesizer (ACS), a 100-horsepower AC motor, and, yes, a four-cylinder 50-horsepower Volkswagen diesel engine. The result was a rather large two-door sedan that got an impressive 27 mpg. And while US automakers didn't see the potential in the early concept, in 1980 Exxon and Toyota began collaborating on a project that would involve retrofitting a Toyota Cressida with a hybrid engine. That car was completed in 1981, and may have been one of the seeds that eventually helped sprout the concept of the Toyota Prius. Soon after rebuilding the Cressida, Exxon would get out of the advanced-powertrain-development business, as oil prices began to fall in the early 1980s, spurring cost-cutting measures. Cry no tears for the Exxon, though, as what's now known as ExxonMobil is the largest US oil company. Related Video: News Source: Inside Climate NewsImage Credit: Spencer Platt/Getty Images Green Read This Chrysler Toyota Electric Hybrid battery