Transport - POLES

Model Documentation - POLES
Model scope and methods - POLES Model concept, solver and details - POLES Temporal dimension - POLES Spatial dimension - POLES Policy - POLES Socio-economic drivers - POLES Population - POLES Economic activity - POLES Macro-economy - POLES Production system and representation of economic sectors - POLES Energy - POLES Energy resource endowments - POLES Fossil energy resources - POLES Uranium and other fissile resources - POLES Bioenergy - POLES Non-biomass renewables - POLES Energy conversion - POLES Electricity - POLES Heat - POLES Gaseous fuels - POLES Liquid fuels - POLES Solid fuels - POLES Grid, pipelines and other infrastructure - POLES Energy end-use - POLES Transport - POLES Residential and commercial sectors - POLES Industrial sector - POLES Other end-use - POLES Energy demand - POLES Technological change in energy - POLES Land-use - POLES Emissions - POLES Carbon dioxide removal (CDR) options - POLES Climate - POLES Non-climate sustainability dimension - POLES Appendices - POLES Data - POLES References - POLES
Corresponding documentation
AIM-Hub BLUES C3IAM COFFEE-TEA DNE21+ GCAM GEM-E3 GRACE IFs IMACLIM IMAGE MESSAGE-GLOBIOM POLES PROMETHEUS REMIND-MAgPIE TIAM-UCL WITCH
Previous versions
Archive of POLES version ADVANCE
Model information
Model link	http://ec.europa.eu/jrc/en/poles https://ec.europa.eu/jrc/en/publication/poles-jrc-model-documentation-0
Institution	JRC - Joint Research Centre - European Commission (EC-JRC), Belgium, http://ec.europa.eu/jrc/en/.
Solution concept	Partial equilibrium (price elastic demand)
Solution method	SimulationRecursive simulation
Anticipation	Myopic

Several modes are distinguished in the model (road, rail, water, air), for both passenger and goods transport.

Mobility depends on income and prices, with all steps (activity variables and unit consumptions) using specific equations and parameters. In particular, in the case of cars, the model uses the notion of "budgetary coefficient" that constraints the mobility (dynamic elasticities) through a maximum share of yearly income that can be dedicated to energy purchases.

Passenger mobility is the sum of individual modes, which are indirectly interdependant (though opposite behaviors to prices) and capped by saturation effects (max number of vehicles per capita, ..). Goods mobility is calculated at national level and then split across modes, apart from Maritime bunkers which is calculated only at Global level.

The competition across vehicle types (6 types of vehicles in cars and trucks: conventional ICE, electric, plugin hybrid, H2 fuel cell, H2 thermal, gas) uses a multinominal logit function that depends on the total cost for the user, considering fixed cost (investment, life-time, user discount rate) and variable cost (consumption per km, fuel price), and is constrained by infrastructure developments for refueling stations.

Fuel price (that affects mobility, consumption per unit and competition across technologies) includes end-user energy taxation policies, which include carbon prices.

Finally, biodiesel and bioethanol are differentiated, both capped by blending constraints depending on the oil products (gasoline, diesel, kerosene, heavy fuel).

The table below gives a general overview of the transport module in POLES.

<figtable id="POLES_tab_3">

The transport module in POLES

Mobility	Mode	Vehicles/scope	Fuel used	Engines	Activity	Link to income	Link to fuel prices
Passengers	Road	Cars	Liquids (oil products, biofuels), electricity, gas, hydrogen	ICE, hybrid, electric, CNG, hydrogen fuel cell, hydrogen thermal	vehicles; mileage; occupation	"+"	"-"
		Motorbikes	Liquids	ICE	vehicles; mileage	"+"	"-"
		Buses	Liquids, electricity, gas, hydrogen	ICE, hybrid, electric, CNG, hydrogen fuel cell, hydrogen thermal	passenger-kilometers	"+"	"+"
	Rail		Oil products, electricity, coal		passenger-kilometers	"+"
	Air	National	Liquids		passenger-kilometers	"+"	"-"
		International	Liquids		passenger-kilometers	"+"	"-"
Goods	Road	Heavy trucks	Liquids, electricity, gas, hydrogen	ICE, hybrid, electric, CNG, hydrogen fuel cell, hydrogen thermal	ton-kilometres; mileage; load	"+"	"-"
		Light trucks	Liquids, electricity, gas, hydrogen	ICE, hybrid, electric, CNG, hydrogen fuel cell, hydrogen thermal	vehicles; mileage; load	"+"	"-"
	Rail		Liquids, electricity, coal		ton-kilometres	"+"
	Waterways		Oil products			"+"
	Maritime	International	Liquids		ton-kilometres	"+"	"-"

</figtable>

Transport energy use and associated emissions in the context of climate mitigation strategies have been studied in the model in several publicationsflachsland2011clgirod2013cl.