The Lamar Buffalo Ranch at Yellowstone National Park has become the first ranger station to be powered by hybrid car batteries. The 100-year-old station just completed the installation of its new power system, which uses a combination of solar power and Camry hybrid batteries.
"Through our long-standing partnership with Yellowstone National Park and the Yellowstone Park Foundation, Toyota has helped preserve Yellowstone for future generations," said Jim Lentz, chief executive officer, Toyota North America. "Today, our relationship with Yellowstone continues, as more than 200 battery packs that once powered Toyota Camry hybrids have found a new home on the range."
The used battery packs store up to 85 kilowatt-hours of energy each, which according to Toyota could power up to six homes annually. That amount of power is plenty for the Lamar Buffalo Ranch that acts not only as a ranger station, but also as an education center.
The station's new power system is a very exciting piece of technology that might just find its way into American homes as solar power and hybrid power become more and more mainstream. It will be interesting to see how this new powerplant works for the Lamar Buffallo station and how much money/power it saves.
For a more in-depth look at the building of the new power system, watch the video below!
