Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB)
R&D and consultancy
The Mobility, Logistics and Automotive Technology Research Group (MOBI) employs more than 90 specialists and is nested at Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) and has been a leader in socio-economic evaluations for sustainable mobility and logistics and in electric and hybrid vehicles research and development for 40 years. MOBI addresses the challenges that the transport value chain faces from various points of view, by integrating the engineering, economy, policy, sociology & environmental sciences. It delivers Societal, Economical & Environmental Impact Studies, Decision Making Support Tools, Modelling & Simulation, Engineering and Standardization.MOBI was officially created in 2007 clustering and streamlining VUB’s different departments with expertise in sustainable mobility, logistics and electric & hybrid vehicles. VUB-MOBI’s track record over the past 5 years includes 21 major H2020 projects for a total VUB budget of almost €10 million, a JTI ECSEL project, many projects in FP7 and a range of projects in other programs (e.g. ERANET, INTERREG, COST), 59 direct contracts with the industry, and 61 projects funded by national organizations. The contracts with the industry include major actors, such as Umicore, Alstom, Enersys, STMicroelectronics, Volvo, CRF (Fiat, IVECO, …), Bombardier, Bosch, Punch Powertrain, Van Hool, MIVB, De Lijn, Electrabel, ENGIE, Procter & Gamble, Nike, Bpost, Port of Brussels, TNT and Colruyt. VUB- MOBI has a strategic role in the strategic research centre for the manufacturing industry in Flanders (Flanders Make) where it is responsible for the research priority “Clean and energy efficient motion”. Thanks to its experience of over 40 years, VUB-MOBI has a leading position in electric and hybrid propulsion systems. The centre possesses state-of-the-art infrastructure and models for the testing, development and design of components – batteries, supercapacitors, power converters -vehicle power trains, and inductive and conductive charging infrastructure. Simulation techniques have been developed to define energy-efficient and low-emission power control strategies in hybrid and electric power systems. VUB- MOBI has strong expertise in the field of smart-grids mainly in a vehicle-to-grid perspective (e.g. Engie). VUB-MOBI is now teaming with the Brussels Health Campus to apply it
technological expertise for microgrids and energy islands. Moreover, VUB-MOBI combines several evaluation methods provides a comprehensive evaluation framework that can be tailored-made according to projects needs. Such a framework offers a combination of the multi-actor multi-criteria analysis (MAMCA©), sustainability assessment through multi-criteria analysis, business modelling, social cost-benefit analysis, life cycle assessment (LCA), and external cost calculations, which will be applied for the sites within the Renaissance project. Multi-Actor Multi-Criteria Analysis (MAMCA©) is a decision-making model developed by VUB-MOBI to enable the simultaneous evaluation of alternative scenarios while explicitly including all stakeholders’ opinions at an early stage of the decision-making process and stands for a participatory approach, which has been applied in several H2020 projects (STRAIGHTSOL,CITYLAB,MOBILITY4EU) For assessing sustainability VUB-MOBI develops advanced Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methods and practical procedures that translate sustainable opportunities into realities. It offers a unique methodology sector to analyse the environmental, economic and societal impacts caused by the development and implementation of new technologies, components, materials and policy measures, applied in several H2020 projects (COLHD, SYRNEMO, GHOST, ORCA, ASSURED). In addition, VUB-MOBI has expertise in the field of Technology & Innovation. This results in studying strategic impact of new paradigms and in defining innovative business models which enable to bring new products and services to the market (BSI Chair Sustainable Company Mobility, B2C-V2G).
