Toyota & Yellowstone Park Partner to Upcycle Batteries

(Image via Yahoo)

The Partnership

Battery packs from hybrid and electric cars can still be useful after their automotive lives expire. A energy storage capacity of batteries diminishes overtime and eventually become unsuitable for use in cars. But Toyota and Yellowstone Park have partnered to upcycle the used batteries into a storage system for a cluster of remote ranger stations at the Lamar Buffalo Ranch.

Yellowstone National Park and Toyota have partnered up to install an innovative sustainable energy system to power 4 ranger stations and an education center. The National Parks Service and the iconic Yellowstone National Park were founded on the values of conservation and sustainability and have formed an ongoing partnership with Toyota to take their green initiatives to new heights.

Toyota assembled a group of cleantech companies to equip the Lamar Buffalo Ranch campus with a customized zero-emissions renewable energy system. To develop the grid-independent system Toyota collaborated with Indy Power Systems, Sharp USA, SolarWorld, Patriot Solar, National Park Service and Yellowstone Park Foundation in an innovative effort to extend the useful life of hybrid vehicle batteries.

Toyota organizes a battery reclaimation program through its US dealerships and has been exploring ways of recycling or repurposing the still useful energy storage devises. The full cycle system hosts solar panels that produce electricity, store in 208 Camry Hybrid nickel-metal battery packs and distribute the energy through customized software that ensures reliability and optimizes battery use to extend their lifespan.

According to Toyota, “Hybrid batteries typically reach the end of their usable life in automobile-grade applications with significant remaining power storage capacity. While Toyota has a robust hybrid battery recycling program in place, the Yellowstone project reflects ongoing efforts to extend the life of existing hybrid batteries. Engineers expect this type of use to double the overall lifespan of the hybrid batteries.”

The System

The Yellowstone sustainable energy system is the first of its kind to use recovered hybrid vehicle batteries for commercial energy storage. Each battery pack was disassembled, tested and every part that could be repurposed was. New components were designed and built by Indy Power Systems specifically for this application, including an onboard battery management system for each battery pack.

The adjoined 40kW solar system will produce around 67,900 kwH annually, enough to power 6 average American homes for a year, or plenty of electricity for the five buildings that make up the Lamar Buffalo Ranch campus. Yellowstone National Park will continue to expand its renewable energy mix by adding a micro-hydro turbine to a neighboring stream.

The battery management system is designed to maximize battery life and will also provide insights into the real-world performance of the combined on-site generation and storage system. The project will serve as an educational experiment converting the insights gathered by Toyota into design adjustments to improve future battery performance and durability. Toyota has gone beyond the conventional philanthropy of monetary giving and has led a collaborative intiative to implement a a solution to an existing challenge through sustainable technology.

Ideas for Expansion

Now equipped with a complete renewable energy system Yellowstone Park will have less fossil fuel pollution further developing their efforts to preserve one of America's most well known and pristine landscapes. This innovative cross-sector partnership can and should be replicated across all of the National Parks Service buildings wherever possible. Especially at an agency tasked with promoting conservation, protecting wildlife and serving as a steward for the country’s natural areas they should be on the cutting edge of sustainable operations.

Government agencies have been taking action to reduce their energy consumption but they need to accelerate their efforts and aim higher towards retrofitting all of their buildings to have energy generation and management systems that equip them to be net zero. This project by the National Parks Service can serve as a pilot on how renewable energy plus storage can be deployed to reduce energy consumption, emissions and save taxpayer dollars. Toyota has taken a progressive approach accomplishing a variety of benefits including reducing electronic waste, maximizing resource use and upcycling its products for a philanthropic purpose.Through these organizations combining their resources and technical expertise they were able to leapfrog current applications by installing a complete system comprised of onsite renewable energy generation, battery storage and energy management. Being that the National Parks Service has limited resources and technical capabilities to integrate renewable energy into their faciltiies, this project is another example of how public-private partnerships can lead to the most innovative solutions. Yellowstone can become a case study for how corporations and government agencies can align their shared values and achieve mutual goals.

Details on the Yellowstone National Park Sustainability Project Energy Storage and Management System

Power Generation: 40kW solar system producing ~67,900 kwH annually. (40kW propane backup generator onsite for emergency use only)

Storage Array: 208 repackaged battery packs, each internally re-wired in parallel and arranged in series in four arrays of 52. Each array provides a nominal 375 volts. Total storage capacity of 85kwH.

Power Management: Indy Power Systems’ Energy Router™ manages and optimizes generation and use of energy between solar energy, battery storage, and/or propane generators (if emergency generator is needed).