Electrifying Mobility: Behaviour, Analytics, Regulation, and Knowledge for Decarbonization

The EMBARK project aims to develop a novel interdisciplinary modelling framework to accelerate the electrification of urban transport systems in line with the European Green Deal and “Fit for 55” targets. The primary objective is to understand and simulate how behavioural preferences, policy instruments, and market structure interact to influence the adoption and integration of electric vehicles (EVs), including vehicle-to-grid (V2G) technologies.The research pursues four objectives: 1) Understanding how individual and collective mobility preferences shape adoption of electric mobility; 2) Quantifying the carbon and energy impacts of these behaviours through large-scale agent-based simulations; 3) Identifying how electricity markets and charging infrastructure should evolve to support flexible and user-centric electrification; and 4) Assessing the viability and scalability of vehicle-to-grid (V2G) business models under different regulatory and market contexts.To achieve these goals, the project will build an open-source multiagent-based simulation platform that couples behavioural choice modelling with techno-economic and policy layers. The behavioural component will draw on empirical data on user preferences and behaviour, while the engineering layer will simulate infrastructure deployments, grid interactions, and battery performance. The economic-policy layer will model electricity pricing, incentives, and regulatory measures. The framework will be applied to case studies in the UK, Netherlands, and France enabling cross-country comparison of V2G and electrification strategies.This project is directly relevant to the Horizon Europe work programme on clean energy transition and climate-resilient infrastructure. By bridging behavioural science, energy systems, and policy design, EMBARK will provide critical insights for policymakers, utilities, and mobility providers to co-design inclusive, sustainable, and decarbonized transport systems across Europe.