Industry Sprint Project

Oxford-Led Project Advances Sodium-Ion Batteries Toward Commercial 12V Automotive Use.

---

The team at the University of Oxford led by Robert House, working with Coventry University and Batri Ltd, is accelerating the commercialisation of Oxford-developed sodium-ion cathode active materials (CAM) through the demonstration of a 12V battery pack for starting, lighting and ignition (SLI) applications-a market forecast to exceed $45 billion by 2030.

The project focuses on translating laboratory advances into a practical technology demonstrator. Research at Oxford will centre on optimising and characterising the sodium-ion CAMs, while Coventry University will fabricate and test sodium-ion cylindrical cells. Batri Ltd will supply its hard-carbon anode materials, enabling full-cell performance evaluation at pack level.

The resulting demonstrator is intended to reduce both technical and investment risk, supporting investor confidence in the formation of a future spin-out company. In doing so, the project aims to lay the foundations for UK-based manufacturing of sodium-ion CAMs, cells and battery packs, with longer-term relevance for energy storage, e-mobility and defence applications.

This Sprint builds on the success of two previous Sprints and a Henry Royce Institute MATCelerate grant, representing a further step toward scalable, domestically produced sodium-ion battery technologies.