About Enviroinventions
A Norwegian vessel design company developing the EnviroCat platform — foil-assisted catamarans from 15 to 50 metres in electric, hybrid, and ICE-powered configurations.
Enviroinventions AS was founded in 2023 to commercialise the EnviroCat platform developed through Fremtidens Hurtigbåt, the competitive innovation programme run by the counties of Nordland, Trøndelag, and Vestland to identify zero-emission high-speed ferry designs.
The company is headquartered in Sogndal, Norway, and ownership sits with the core personnel. Commercial activity in the Gulf region runs through a sister entity, ESS Marine Ltd.
We do not own yards or operate vessels. We design and license complete vessel platforms; yards build them; operators run them. The model is closer to how Volvo Penta delivers propulsion systems than how a shipyard sells ships — except that the deliverable is a complete vessel package, not a component.
Team
Ola Lilloe-Olsen — CTO and naval architect Sivilingeniør Marin. 40+ years’ experience designing high-speed vessels, including electric and hybrid ferries. Established Norway’s first private marine test tank. 130+ vessels realised across the practice. Designer of the EnviroCat platform.
Bjørn Utgård — CEO Sivilingeniør Energi og Miljø. 20+ years’ experience in electrification, industrial innovation, and zero-emission marine technology. Former CEO of Hyke and VP Sales at EVBOX.
Jørn Sandvik Nilsson — Chairman Sivilingeniør Kybernetikk. Robotics and automation background. Former head of development and commercialisation at nLink, the company behind the world’s first mobile drilling robot for the construction industry.
Christer Widmark — Special Advisor Sivilingeniør Marin. Founder of Humphree AB (interceptor and trim-control systems, sold to Volvo Penta in 2016) and Profjord AB.
Heritage
EnviroCat sits at the intersection of two Norwegian leadership areas: high-speed catamaran naval architecture and marine electrification. The team and technology partners are part of this heritage, not adjacent to it.
Norway has deployed more than 120 electric ferries, workboats, and tourism vessels since 2015 — the world’s largest such fleet. Road-ferry electrification reached approximately 40% of connections by 2025, reducing annual CO₂ emissions from the road-ferry segment from roughly 300,000 tonnes in 2015 to roughly 149,000 tonnes in 2025. The Norwegian supply chain that built this — battery and drive suppliers, propulsion specialists, charging infrastructure operators, classification practice — is the supply chain that builds EnviroCat vessels.
Our technology partners reflect this lineage: ZEM (batteries and electric drives), Brunvoll and Brunvoll Mar-El (thrusters, manoeuvring, electric drives), Kumera Helseth (CPP and foil-plus-propulsion integration), Servogear (CPP), and Volvo Penta (IPS Electric pods). Each is an active supplier in the Norwegian electric and high-speed ferry fleet.
For more on the partner ecosystem and the platform’s validation history: Technology.
Two entities, one platform
Enviroinventions AS holds the IP, runs technology development, manages partner relationships, and handles Norwegian market activity.
ESS Marine Ltd handles Gulf-region commercial activity — UAE-led market development, regional partnerships (Al Masaood), and operator relationships with ADNOC L&S, RTA Dubai, Abu Dhabi Maritime, and other Gulf counterparts.
Both entities draw on the same engineering team, the same vessel platform, and the same technology partner ecosystem.
Where we work
Norway. Headquarters in Sogndal. Norwegian county and operator relationships, technology partner integration, classification work with DNV.
The Gulf. Commercial dialogue runs through ESS Marine Ltd — see essmarine.me.
Yard partners. International yard partnerships are in place and growing — selected per project against vessel size, classification framework, and operator preference.
Next step
For technical or commercial questions, the Contact page lists the right channels.
For new projects, the entry point is a 30-minute briefing — no commitment, honest answer about fit.
[Book a 30-minute briefing] See the platform