VW researchers use quantum computing for ev battery research

The group - which will be reporting on its quantum computing work at next week’s CEBIT technology show (June 12 – 15, Hanover) - has already used a quantum computer to simulate molecules such as lithium-hydrogen and carbon chain and is now working on more complex chemical compounds. It is collaborating on the work with experts from technology partners Google and D-Wave.

The company said the ultimate aim is to simulate the chemical structure of a complete electric vehicle battery, and develop a “tailor-made battery”, a configurable chemical blueprint that is ready for production.

The team has laid the foundation for this using newly developed quantum algorithms, which could eventually be used to simulate the chemical composition of a battery on the basis of different criteria such as weight reduction, maximum power density or cell assembly and provide a design which could be used directly for production. This would significantly accelerate the battery development process, which has been time-consuming and resource-intensive to date.