LABS & LABS4U break status quo in mobility and energy transition

LABS: simulations of real world behaviour

LABS does this by means of the next generation decision-support models for the mobility and energy system. It enables users to quickly and accurately gain insights into how these systems – and the actors within them – interact, through simulations of real world behaviour.

LABS will launch with an initial application focused on the electrification of mobility and will subsequently evolve to address a broad range of societal challenges. Through a cooperative ecosystem, LABS4U, the LABS platform will be made available nationally and internationally in collaboration with market players and knowledge institutions.

Complex transitions require advanced decision-making

The mobility and energy transitions entail substantial investments in infrastructure, vehicles and operational management systems. Grid congestion is a key bottleneck in this context, affecting not only the achievement of climate objectives but also productivity (commercial revenue), accessibility and liveability.

Shifting charging moments and energy consumption outside peak hours can significantly reduce pressure on the electricity grid, resulting in increased grid capacity and stronger connections for businesses and industry.

Addressing this challenge requires fast and accurate decision support for governments, grid operators, charging infrastructure providers and fleet managers – support that reflects real-world conditions and actual stakeholder behaviour.
Current macroscopic decision-support models fall short in this regard.

They provide insufficient detail on populations, mobility patterns and the energy demand of electric vehicles and activities, often relying on broad averages. This not only leads to suboptimal investments and missed opportunities, but also means that important local differences and behavioural dynamics remain underexposed.

The solution: Large-scale Agent-Based Simulation

To support stakeholders in making well informed policy and investment decisions, TNO is developing a platform for Large-scale Agent-Based Simulation (LABS). This new generation of high performance simulation environments leverages large scale parallel computing combined with high accuracy and speed.

Agent-Based Models (ABMs) simulate the actions and interactions of individual agents – such as vehicles, people (including mobility users, households and decision-makers), charging stations or traffic lights – within a system. Each agent follows a set of rules, seeks to optimise its own objectives and adapts to changing circumstances. For example, different individuals may choose to charge their vehicles at different times and locations. By incorporating the rules governing each agent, the model captures the complexity of real world behaviour.

As a result, LABS enables deeper and more accurate analyses of charging systems, better alignment with actual agent behaviour, and ultimately smarter, more effective investment decisions in infrastructure, energy networks, vehicle fleets, operational management systems and innovative technologies for sustainable mobility and energy.

This integrated approach allows decision-makers to respond effectively to urgent challenges, societal priorities, local needs and current developments, leading to higher efficiency, lower costs and accelerated achievement of climate targets.

Peter van Buijtene, Senior Manager Innovation Partnerships: 'Grid congestion is already constraining housing development and spatial planning. The only way to create immediate impact is by influencing behaviour: shifting charging patterns, reconsidering mobility choices and enabling flexible energy use. LABS provides decision-makers and market parties with powerful simulations to test these behavioural interventions at scale – making the invisible visible and the complex actionable.'

Best of both worlds

Traditional models are generally fast, but often static in nature, as they are largely based on average values and historical data. As a result, local effects are insufficiently captured, limiting their reliability for investment planning. Modern ABMs offer greater detail and realism, but are often slow and fragmented; moreover, many initiatives remain at a relatively low technological maturity level, making large scale deployment challenging.

LABS bridges this gap by combining speed and detail. Using high performance computing (HPC) and automated rule derivation, it delivers accurate, scalable simulations of entire cities and regions to support smarter infrastructure, policy and investment decisions. LABS enables stakeholders to create, simulate and evaluate a wide range of policy options.

While LABS initially focuses on mobility and energy transitions – where grid congestion is a major barrier – its flexible architecture is also applicable to domains such as climate adaptation, healthcare and defence.

A unique position

With LABS, we combine high performance GPU computing (i.e. Graphics Processing Units, the same hardware used for AI) with deep modelling expertise to deliver the next generation of ABM tools. TNO provides the agent core optimised for high performance computing.

LABS will be partly managed as open source in collaboration with academic partners and offered as a Platform as a Service (PaaS). This enables consultants and decision-makers to run scalable simulations, calibrate models and generate scenarios without having to manage the underlying infrastructure.

Starting with e-mobility, LABS will expand into other domains. Shared input data (population, buildings, infrastructure) enables sustainable scaling to more cities and regions worldwide. The modular, open architecture, cross domain potential and societal relevance make LABS attractive for long term investment, implementation and value creation.

Driving societal impact

LABS enables smarter, cost effective infrastructure planning and peak load reduction, helping to mitigate grid congestion and associated costs. By removing barriers to efficient charging, it accelerates the electrification of the mobility system – resulting in lower nitrogen and greenhouse gas emissions, improved air quality and public health, and reduced healthcare costs.

LABS promotes efficient use of urban space and equitable access to electric mobility and electricity. This is achieved through optimisation of charging and parking infrastructure, aligned with mobility behaviour and (energy) needs of users, while taking into account the purchasing power of different income segments of society.

Stakeholders invest billions of euros annually in fleet electrification, charging infrastructure and grid reinforcement. LABS identifies the most cost effective strategies: peak load reduction alone could save between €350 million and €2.2 billion in grid investments, while reduced congestion delivers approximately €400 million per year in economic benefits for the Dutch economy. With electricity demand in the Netherlands expected to roughly double between 2025 and 2040, these savings and benefits will only increase.

LABS4U: a cooperative ecosystem

To bring LABS to market, we are establishing a cooperative ecosystem: LABS4U. This initiative brings together academic groups, software developers and industrial partners to accelerate innovation in cost effective decision-making. The aim is to bundle fragmented ABM initiatives and scale them towards national and international market deployment.

By combining smaller and new initiatives with TNO’s agent core, LABS4U creates a dynamic ecosystem in which academics, developers and decision-makers collectively advance ABM based decision support worldwide.

Join the LABS4U community

LABS is currently in an early development phase. We are therefore actively seeking academic groups, software developers and other partners who wish to co develop the LABS platform, building on both existing and new initiatives.

At the same time, we are launching the LABS4U community – a vibrant ecosystem in which municipalities, grid operators, fleet managers, consultants and researchers join forces to shape the future of sustainable mobility, energy and beyond. We are looking for projects or products that require insight into behavioural impacts – initially within the energy domain – and are suitable for pilot applications using our agent core. Since early 2026, we have already started the first implementations and applications of LABS.

Interested in co creation or collaboration? Please feel free to get in touch to explore the possibilities and become part of the LABS4U community. Together, we are building smart, future proof solutions.