What can electric fast ferries do for Norwegian cities?
Electric fast ferries are moving from pilot to fleet. Terje Eide joins an operator, a technology supplier and a research institute at ONS+ to discuss what that means for Norwegian cities. Free and open to all.
Practical:
Monday 24 August 2026, 18:45–19:30
ONS+ Downtown, Tent 3 – Havbyen Kristiansund, Stavanger city centre
Free, no registration
See the session in the ONS programme 
In April, Boreal ordered 20 Candela P-12 electric hydrofoil vessels – the largest fleet of its kind anywhere. The first two arrive in 2027, with the rest delivered in annual batches through 2030.
Above 18 knots the hull lifts clear of the water on computer-controlled foils. Drag drops sharply, and energy use falls by roughly 80 per cent compared with a conventional vessel of the same size. Cruising speed 25 knots, range around 40 nautical miles, 25 passengers. A full charge takes an hour on standard DC fast chargers, with no megawatt installation on the quay.
The technology is largely sorted. What cities do with it is not.
Small vessels running frequently change the arithmetic of public transport. Waterways can take pressure off the road network, tie a region together and become a real part of the timetable rather than a summer offer for tourists. That depends on quays, route planning, ticketing and political priorities that are not in place today.
That is what this panel takes on: where things actually stand, what works, and what still has to be solved.
Panel:
- Nikolai Utheim, CEO, Boreal Norge AS
- Gustav Hasselskog, Founder & Executive Chairman, Candela
- Christin Krohn, Senior Adviser and Researcher, Institute of Transport Economics (TØI)
- Terje Eide, CEO, Nordic Edge
Moderator: Eirill Eckbo, Director Strategy & Business Development, DRMA Architecture & Urbanism
About NetZeroCities
Transport is one of the heaviest emission sources cities have to deal with. NetZeroCities is the EU platform supporting 112 European cities on the path to climate neutrality by 2030. Stavanger, Oslo and Trondheim are among them.
Nordic Edge works at the intersection of cities and business. We help Norwegian Mission Cities access European expertise, and we open doors for our members: companies with solutions in energy, mobility, buildings and data get a direct line into the cities that need them. Decarbonising transport has been a distinct strand of that work, including alongside EIT Urban Mobility.
This session is a concrete example: an operator, a technology supplier and a research institute at the same table as the cities making the decisions.