Kigali, Rwanda and London, United Kingdom, September 2026
Bboxx and the University of Oxford have won the Battery Innovation Programme Innovation Award at the Faraday Institution Community Awards 2026. The award recognises more than a decade of joint research, and that research has already started changing how Bboxx manages its batteries, showing up for customers as longer battery life and more reliable service.
The collaboration has been led by Professor David Howey of the University of Oxford and Chris Baker-Brian, co-founder of Bboxx and Asopo Technologies, working alongside research and engineering teams at both institutions. Their starting point was simple. A battery tested under controlled laboratory conditions does not behave the way a battery does once it is installed in a customer’s home and exposed to heat, irregular charging, and years of daily use. To close that gap, the team turned to real-world data rather than the lab alone, drawing on telemetry from more than 700,000 connected devices across more than 10 African countries. That data has fed new approaches to battery diagnostics, degradation modelling, end-of-life prediction, and lifetime extension, built from how batteries actually perform once customers start using them.
In Rwanda, this research moved from analysis into practice, as researchers, engineers, customer support teams, and local technicians ran a field trial on lead-acid batteries already deployed in customer systems, testing revised charging strategies developed from the wider research. The trial extended battery lifetime by up to 25 percent, and Bboxx is now applying these charging protocols across its lead-acid solar home systems more broadly.
“When we started connecting solar systems across Africa more than a decade ago, the priority was simply keeping households powered. What we didn’t fully appreciate at the time was that every one of those connections was also collecting the data we would eventually need to make the batteries themselves last longer. This award is really a recognition of that patience, and of what happens when a decade of real-world operations is allowed to inform the science instead of the other way around.”
Chris Baker-Brian, Co-founder, Bboxx and Asopo Technologies
For customers, the practical result is a more reliable system. A battery that lasts longer and degrades more predictably means fewer unexpected outages and less time spent waiting for a technician to replace a failed unit. In communities where a Bboxx solar system may be the only source of power in the home, that reliability decides whether the lights stay on at night or a phone can be charged in time for work the next morning.
The benefits reach beyond the household too. A battery that lasts longer needs replacing less often, which lowers the replacement and repair costs associated with the system over time. It also means fewer raw materials drawn into the supply chain and less waste for Bboxx to manage responsibly at the end of a battery’s life.
Put together, the aim is straightforward: a better day-to-day experience for the people who depend on Bboxx to keep their homes and businesses powered.
“Rwanda is where we ran this particular trial, but the same question comes up everywhere we operate: how do we keep a customer’s system running without asking them to think about it? A battery that lasts 25 percent longer changes how we plan maintenance and manage spare parts across all countries we operate in. In effect, it translates to improved economics for the business, better customer experience for the customer and less pressure on the environment. We We are proud to be part of this transformative research work.”
Justus Mucyo, Chief Operating Officer, Bboxx
The work continues to expand. Oxford-developed battery health diagnostics are being built into Bboxx’s technology platform, and a related project called UniBatt is developing lifetime prediction models that could eventually help Bboxx plan maintenance and replacements before a battery fails rather than after.
The Bboxx contributors recognised as part of the award include Tiago Carvalho, Sean De Souza, David Idunnuoluwa, Patricien Tsangya, and Jean Paul Kabasha, working alongside the Oxford research team and academic partners at UCL.
For Bboxx, the recognition is a reminder that reliable power for underserved communities starts long before a solar panel reaches a rooftop. It starts in research that takes years to pay off, carried out by people whose names rarely make it into a press release.
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About Bboxx
Bboxx deploys innovative products across Africa, transforming lives and unlocking potential.
Headquartered in Rwanda, Bboxx is championing the economic empowerment of Africa, accelerating the transition to the digital economy, and creating new markets. It has an extensive on-the-ground network to connect consumers with clean energy, clean cooking, smartphones, e-mobility and selected financial products – many for the first time.
Bboxx is powered by Pulse, Asopo Technologies’ fully integrated operating system.
Bboxx is connecting both aspiring urban and underserved rural customers through last mile logistics, data-powered innovative asset financing, and pay-as-you-go services to households, businesses, and communities.
Bboxx is now positively impacting the lives of more than 6 million people in 7 operating markets, directly contributing to 12 of the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Bboxx is one of the largest retail networks in Africa, with more than 3,000 staff across Africa and support teams across Europe and Asia.
Bboxx is part of the Abci-Nexus group.
