OREANDA-NEWS. May 20, 2015. For more than 100 years, there have been battery-powered submarines that run solely on electricity,” says Moen. “That got us wondering why we couldn’t bring such a drive system concept to the surface, so to speak.”

Experts began to work on developing this idea as early as 1999, but the technology needed was still too new for the market at that point, Moen recalls. Since then, however, technologies have improved, and lifecycle assessment issues have become more important.

Indeed, it was the environmental aspect of the project that won over Norway’s Ministry of Transport and Communications, which oversees the country’s waterways.