Latest news with #Busbee
Yahoo
24-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Innovative company makes breakthrough that could be game-changer in US-China trade fight: 'We always knew it was out there'
New technology could solve America's cobalt refining problem for good, reported TechCrunch. Cobalt is one of the best battery materials, but getting it has been challenging. Most reserves come from the Democratic Republic of Congo, where mining practices have raised human rights concerns. Even more problematic is that 72% of cobalt refining happens in China. The problem affects more than electric vehicles. The U.S. military depends on cobalt for lithium-ion batteries in drones and alloys in jet engines and missile guidance systems. Currently, however, there are no cobalt refineries in the United States. Xerion Advanced Battery Corp has developed a solution. The company uses electricity and a small amount of heat to produce highly refined cobalt in just one step. "Everybody's been worried about China's leverage, but now they've actually shown that they'll cut off critical minerals," explained John Busbee, co-founder and CEO of Xerion. The technology wasn't initially designed for cobalt production. Xerion had been perfecting a process to create better battery electrodes, using electricity to draw metals from a molten salt bath. While making their battery material on one electrode, they noticed something valuable forming on the other: incredibly pure cobalt metal. "We always knew it was out there," Busbee said. "We always knew it was a critical mineral, and it's something we thought about addressing later." With increasing concerns about supply chains, Xerion is shifting its focus. The company is opening a pilot facility in Dayton, Ohio, that will produce five metric tons of cobalt. Though a small amount compared to global demand, it's a start toward addressing U.S. military needs, which range from 5,000 to 10,000 metric tons for aerospace alloys. The company's next-generation plant aims to produce 2,000 metric tons annually. What makes this development particularly exciting is that even at the pilot scale, Xerion matches China's production costs. "Even at that scale, we're already on even heel with China," Busbee noted. Should the U.S. invest more in battery innovations? Absolutely Depends on the project We're investing enough We should invest less Click your choice to see results and speak your mind. This innovation offers multiple benefits. For you, it means more secure supply chains for batteries in everything from personal tablets to electric vehicles. It also helps reduce dependence on mining practices that harm both people and the environment. By bringing cobalt refining to American soil, Xerion's technology helps strengthen national security while creating cleaner manufacturing jobs. The environmental benefits are significant too — shorter supply chains mean reduced shipping pollution and a smaller carbon footprint for the batteries powering our clean energy transition. As global trade tensions continue, having domestic sources of critical materials becomes increasingly important. If Xerion's pilot facility proves successful, this technology might scale up rapidly over the next few years, with full-scale production facilities potentially online by 2027. Join our free newsletter for weekly updates on the latest innovations improving our lives and shaping our future, and don't miss this cool list of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet.
Yahoo
04-03-2025
- Yahoo
Man arrested after allegedly leading patrol on pursuit that went through Jamestown
Mar. 3—JAMESTOWN — A 33-year-old Pensacola, Florida, man was arrested on Sunday, March 2, after he allegedly led law enforcement on a pursuit that began in LaMoure County and ended near Bordulac, North Dakota, according to a news release issued by the North Dakota Highway Patrol. Serry Deason Busbee faces formal charges of reckless endangerment-extreme indifference and fleeing a peace officer-vehicle-risk of death or serious bodily injury, Class C felonies, and driving under suspension, a Class B misdemeanor. He is in the Stutsman County Correctional Center. The patrol said a trooper initiated a pursuit of a Lincoln Town Car at about 12:45 p.m. Sunday following a traffic stop for exceeding the speed limit. The suspect drove recklessly, including passing another vehicle at the crest of a hill at 110 mph, the patrol said. The pursuit continued northbound with the suspect evading spike strips, the patrol said. A second vehicle, later determined to be driven by another person known by Busbee, followed the pursuit at high speeds but was stopped by law enforcement, the patrol said. The pursuit entered Jamestown, and the trooper discontinued the pursuit for safety reasons. A second troop reengaged the pursuit outside of city limits on the North Dakota Highway 52 bypass, the patrol said. The patrol said Busbee continued to drive recklessly, crossing into oncoming lanes and endangering other motorists. Busbee was arrested near Bordulac. The patrol is investigating the incident.
Yahoo
13-02-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
'Home Turn' shows a side of Daytona you won't see during the Daytona 500
If you're looking to get a sense of what Daytona Beach is actually like ahead of the Daytona 500, you can do it in under 30 minutes instead of booking a trip to Florida. 'Home Turn,' a show hosted by Yahoo Sports' Jay Busbee, debuted on NASCAR's YouTube channel on Tuesday. The documentary — available at the top of this post — is about the city and culture of Daytona and was a partnership between NASCAR Studios and Bluefoot Entertainment, the group behind the 'TrueSouth' series on the SEC Network. The show has plenty of nuggets for those who haven't been to Daytona at all or those of us that have been to the area too many times to count. Even Busbee said he learned a lot while filming. 'I'd always known the history of the area, but the way you can draw a literal straight line from the sands at the waterline right to the start-finish line at Daytona International Speedway, both literally and metaphorically, is pretty great — the same drive that pushed men to rip down the beach at 300 miles an hour a century ago pushes them to claim the lead coming out of Turn 4 on the final lap today,' Busbee said. 'Plus, I learned why DIS is shaped the way it is ... there used to be a dog track beyond what is now Turn 1, and so they created the tri-oval so they could have both the size and the banking they wanted. The dog track is long gone, but the tri-oval shape remains.' Daytona is a city known for NASCAR, of course, but also its role as a host for MTV's 'Spring Break' for many years. The area is trying to get past that now, and like any community looking to remake its image, it's not an easy process. In a conversation near the end of the show, lifelong Daytona resident and Daytona Beach News-Journal writer Ken Willis notes that Daytona is caught in the past while also attempting to modernize itself. It was easy to see how that situation applies to NASCAR too. The stock car series has experienced a lot of turnover in the past decade as the boom years of the 2000s get further and further away. Its new crop of drivers aren't on the star paths the likes of Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart and Dale Earnhardt Jr. were on, and NASCAR is attempting to figure out how to navigate its new and much more niche place in the sports world. 'It's a great connection, because both NASCAR and Daytona Beach had such mountainous highs in the past, and those highs cast a long shadow," Busbee said. "Both of them are having to adjust to new tastes — people aren't as interested in massing at a beach and sleeping 10 to a hotel room for Spring Break anymore, and people aren't as interested in sitting for four-plus hours to watch racing any more. Plus, you always romanticize your past over the allegedly less-colorful present, and that's what both NASCAR and Daytona Beach have to contend with — people's memories versus current reality. Both are in the process of reinventing themselves, and both are now recognizing that what worked in the past won't work to carry them into the future.'
