IQM and Volkswagen report up to 124x speedup for battery chemistry simulation

[NealBinnom-Williams]

Car makers are looking to quantum computers to help design better batteries. Quantum Zeitgeist reports that IQM and Volkswagen Group Innovation used a hybrid method called quantum classical auxiliary field quantum Monte Carlo, or QC-AFQMC

The method targets strongly correlated electrons, which classical computers struggle to simulate accurately. It ran on IQM's Emerald superconducting processor, using error mitigated data

The team first checked results against established classical methods for stretched chains of hydrogen atoms. They then scaled up to a 40 qubit study of a lithium superoxide dimer rearrangement, a reaction that matters for lithium air batteries

IQM claims a speedup of up to 124 times in computing time. The source is an IQM case study rather than a peer reviewed paper, the baseline for the comparison is not stated, and the article notes that substantial runtime challenges remain

Lithium air batteries could store far more energy than today's cells, so understanding their chemistry is valuable for electric cars. Testing against known results before scaling up is a sensible approach. The speedup claim needs independent checking, but the collaboration shows how seriously industry is taking quantum chemistry

Could quantum computers help design the next generation of car batteries? And how should we judge speedup claims without a clear baseline?

IQM And Volkswagen Speed Up Battery Research With Quantum-classical Methodsquantumzeitgeist.com