Quantum researchers at Ford Motor have released the results of a new study that modeled EV battery materials using quantum computers. The study was conducted in collaboration with Quantinuum, the world's largest quantum computing company formed by a merger of Honeywell Quantum Solutions and Cambridge Quantum in 2021.
The research, led by Marwa Faraq and Joydip Ghosh, both part of Ford's Core AI-ML-QC team, used a hybrid quantum-classical algorithm called variational quantum eigensolver (VQE) to obtain the ground state energy of LiCoO2, a candidate transition metal oxide used for battery cathodes. The hybird algorithm can be deployed on quantum computers to solve parts of a molecular system, leaving the rest of calcuations done on classical computers.
The researchers concluded that quantum-based computational chemistry "can provide insights about the charge/discharge mechanisms, electrochemical and thermal stability, structural phase transition, and surface behavior, and it plays a vital role to find potential materials that can enhance the battery performance and robustness."
It is not the first time Ford explores quantum computing: back in 2018, the company partnered with NASA's Quantum Artificial Intelligence Labatory, using its quantum computer for autonomous driving research. In 2019, Ford also partnered with Microsoft to simulate thousands of vehicles using quantum techbology, in a bid to understand traffic congestion.
InQuanto, a quantum computational chemistry software platform released by Quantinuum, plays a key role in the Ford research, alongside Quantinuum's quantum computer System Model H1. On December 13, the company has just launched InQuanto 2.0, an upgraded version of the previous platform.
System Model H1 is a 20-qubit trapped-ion quantum computer that has a measured Quantum Volume of 8192. Quantum Volume, a measurement introduced by IBM, represents the level of problem complexity a computer can solve, and Quantinuum claims that System Model H1 has so far the highesr Quantum Volume in the history of quantum computing.
