Emobility meets space exploration in the quantum world

E.ON is collaborating with the German Aerospace Centre (DLR) on planning applications for emobility and space exploration with quantum computing.

As applications become increasingly complex they can soon reach the limits of classical computers necessitating a switch to quantum computing.

Such is the case with E.ON’s investigations into vehicle-to-grid (V2G) systems to enable the efficient integration of electric vehicles (EVs) into the electricity grids.

For example, a specific task highlighted is ‘When is the best time to charge a car battery considering the minimum charge level at the end of the planning period, the total amount of sold electricity within a specific timeframe and the physical conditions of car batteries?’

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In this case, with the high degree of scaling in the V2G concept, models involving complex networks of states, conditions, and logical connections are found to be too complex for classical methods.

To investigate this E.ON, which has several years of experience with quantum computing applications, has joined the DLR’s Quantum Computing Initiative’s application project QMPC. This project aims to improve and simplify the planning of space missions using quantum computing.

This similarly complex challenge is focussed on addressing the challenge of how to optimise the allocation of personnel and material for space missions when various framework conditions must be considered during the planning.

“[The collaboration] demonstrates how outstanding technology can make a real difference,” says Victoria Ossadnik, Chief Digital and Innovation Officer at E.ON.

“We are solving complex planning problems, whether in space exploration or electric vehicles, pioneering new paths and shaping the future of energy and mobility. Climate protection and a successful energy transition can only be achieved through digital solutions – especially for complex applications.”

While these use cases are too complex for classical computers, they also exceed the capacity of the current generation of quantum computers. Therefore, the investigators are reported to be aiming to implement quantum algorithms capable of solving larger problems, such as through hybrid approaches, improved problem encoding, circuit optimisation, and problem-specific adjustments to generic algorithms.

With E.ON’s additional use case, the QMPC project is expected to advance more rapidly with its research base doubled.