Oxis Energy (www.oxisenergy.com), which has its headquarters at the Culham Science Centre near Abingdon, has received £112,348 of Government funding to develop a battery that can operate in the ultra-low temperatures of Antarctica.

Project manager Tom Cleaver (pictured) said that the battery must be able to withstand -80°C. “Antarctica being where it is, the weather is horrendous. It’s very hard to find anything that works below -30°C, as people don’t want to go outside.”

Established in 2005, Oxis Energy specialises in lightweight batteries made with lithium sulphur.

The company is privately owned and its major shareholder is Sasol, a South African petrochemicals group.

The Government grant — from the latest £11.3 million round of Innovate UK’s Energy Catalyst programme — is being shared with Oxis Energy’s partner on the project, Hyperdrive Innovation, which will devise the battery management system and packaging.

Mr Cleaver said that Hyperdrive initiated the project after talking to the British Antarctic Survey (BAS), which wants lighter batteries for its scientific expeditions to Antarctica.

BAS currently uses lead-acid batteries, which are similar to those in a car.

“The problem is that workers must freight the batteries and scientific measuring equipment around the frozen continent by plane; each flight carries about 240kg of batteries, or the equivalent of about 16 car batteries.”

Other potential applications for the new battery include cars, satellites, solar panels and use by the military.

“We’re in the development phase, and we’ve got orders from a couple of key customers.”