ABINGDON-BASED OXIS Energy has secured £112,348 in Government funding to develop a battery that can operate in ultra-low temperatures in Antarctica.

Project manager Tom Cleaver said the battery had to be able to withstand -80C.

“Antarctica being where it is, the weather is horrendous,” he said. “It’s very hard to find anything that works at more than -30C as people don’t want to go outside.”

OXIS Energy, which started in 2005, specialises in making lightweight batteries made with lithium sulphur. The company is privately owned and its major shareholder is Sasol, a South African petrochemicals giant .

The Government grant, from Innovate UK’s latest £11.3m round of the Energy Catalyst programme, is being shared with OXIS Energy’s partner on the project, Hyperdrive Innovation. While OXIS Energy is developing the battery, Hyperdrive will devise a battery management system and packaging.

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

Currently, BAS uses lead-acid batteries, which are similar to those in a car. The problem is that workers must freight the batteries and its scientific measuring equipment around the frozen continent by plane.

Each flight carries about 240kg worth of batteries, or the equivalent of about 16 car batteries.

OXIS Energy aims to reduce that weight to about 70kg per flight, so that BAS can freight in more scientific equipment and thereby improve its research productivity.

Mr Cleaver said the goal was to develop an electrolyte that did not freeze at -80C.

He said this was OXIS Energy’s first attempt at trying to devise an ultra-low temperature battery, and that the company was still in the early stages of developing lightweight batteries made with lithium sulphur. Other potential applications include cars, planes, satellites, solar panels and use by the military, he said.

“We’re in the development phase, and we’ve got early level sales into a couple of key customers.”

OXIS Energy is located at the Culham Science Centre near Abingdon. The company has been granted 65 patents and has another 60 pending.