Robert Bosch is partnering with IBM to replace the rare and expensive metals needed to build electric vehicles.
The supplier plans to use more than twenty of IBM’s quantum computers to help identify alternatives to the metals and rare-earth elements currently used in electric motors and fuel cells, the supplier said.
The computers are to simulate the properties of the new materials.
Nickel and copper have become hotly contested commodities as auto and battery producers scour the planet for scarce supplies.
Demand for lithium is so high that Chinese factories that typically make ceramics for bathroom tiles are now supplying the industry.
Finding alternatives would be one way to keep costs in check.
Quantum computers can crunch in seconds vast amounts of data that take even the most powerful computers hours or days to process.
Companies including Microsoft, Google, and Intel are devoting millions of research dollars to the technology.
International Business Machines first made a quantum computer available to the public in 2016 and has rolled out regular upgrades. Bosch says it has around 30 people working in the field.
The partnership with IBM “underscores the importance that alliances have for Bosch’s digital transformation,” the supplier said.
“They are a way to pool the forces required for the rapid and successful development of promising areas.”
Bosch ranks No. 1 on the Automotive News Europe list of the top 100 global suppliers, with worldwide parts sales to automakers of $49.14 billion in 2021.
