https://arxiv.org/abs/2208.07977

Kind of a misleading title. They've only described how to go about using VQE for simulating more complex and useful molecules other than simple benchmarking ones like H2, H2O, and LiH, and what their limitations are. Paper explains all of their methods.

I'm no battery expert but basically, the existing solid state battery simulation algorithm (DFT) has limitations on how well it can describe many body electronic structure systems. This is important for predicting whether or not a battery can keep a steady voltage. Using VQE and entangling more qubits appears to be necessary to better simulate the energy states of LiCoO2 and CoO2 molecules, which are essentially intermediate phases of matter found in batteries which transfer & hold electrical charge.

So why would Ford care about this? Obviously EVs need better batteries. But if you want to speed up your R&D time, modeling & simulation helps narrow down your candidate test materials to manufacture to ones which have the best chance of holding the best charge in simulations. In order to do that better, you want to use faster and more accurate simulation tools. That's where QC comes in. Very interesting research.