Electric Boat Motors: Evoy's EIC Accelerator Record Since 2020

Evoy, founded in Florø on Norway's west coast in 2018, makes electric inboard and outboard motors of 120 to 400 horsepower for fast boats, the power class where electric propulsion has struggled most against petrol engines. In the Green Deal cut-off of the EIC Accelerator pilot on 19 May 2020 it was selected for blended finance for Electric Voyage, a project to bring its E-G2 propulsion system to market, according to the European Commission's list of selected companies, which names Evoy as the project's only beneficiary. CORDIS records an EU contribution of €2,313,100.13 towards a total cost of €3,304,428.75, from 1 December 2020 to 28 February 2023.

Six years on, the motors exist and are sold to boat builders in Europe and the United States. The company also owns Vita, a British maker of electric boats, which it bought outright in September 2024, according to Vita's 2024 accounts at Companies House. But Evoy lost NOK 162.4 million in the three years to 2024, shelved a planned factory in February 2025, and the Norwegian register now lists five employees and a one-person board, according to the Brønnøysund Register Centre.

Where Evoy Stands Now

Evoy is trading. In November 2025 it launched the second generation of its Breeze 120+ hp inboard under the Evoy Vita name, with a battery pack made by the Canadian powersports company Taiga, priced from €34,990 for the motor system and €17,490 for the dual battery pack, according to the company and Powerboat & RIB, which reported the launch from METSTRADE 2025. Evoy's product page lists the 200+ hp Gale as "available 2026". In May 2026 Powerboat & RIB's review of electric outboards called the Storm 300+ "the largest electric outboard on the market" and named Goldfish and Axopar as boat brands that use it.

The corporate record points the other way. The Norwegian register shows five employees for Evoy AS, updated in October 2026, and a board that shrank from six members in July 2025 to three in April 2026 and to the chair alone in September 2026, according to the register's announcements and its list of roles. The accounts for 2024 were registered as approved on 10 March 2026; none for 2025 had been filed by mid-October 2026. No insolvency or liquidation is registered. Why the board was reduced has not been explained publicly.

The Technology: Car-Style Power Electronics for Planing Boats

Small fast boats are where electrification is hardest. A planing hull needs a lot of power to stay on top of the water, which drains a battery quickly, and boats cannot recharge on the move. Evoy's answer, according to the CORDIS project report, is a plug-and-play package of motor, batteries, charging and cloud software for boats of 20 to 50 feet, with up to 800 hp at peak, a cooling system for warm seas and remote monitoring and over-the-air software updates. The original proposal claimed "up to 9.7-times higher system power and 6times higher charging power" than market leaders.

Where the established alternatives for small electric boats are low-power outboards for displacement speeds, Evoy aimed at the 120 to 400 hp class that has been the preserve of petrol and diesel engines. Its own range guide from 2023 is candid about the trade-off: a typical cruising range of "around 25 nautical miles", cruising speeds "often just above 20 knots" for the Breeze and "often around 25 knots" for the larger motors, and 50 nautical miles at 5 knots.

What Electric Voyage Promised, and What the Record Shows

The proposal summary on CORDIS made five concrete promises: E-G2 would keep 40 knots over 30 nautical miles and recharge fully in 15 minutes to an hour; it would be piloted internationally under leading boating companies "such as AKVA Group"; Evoy would recoup all earlier investment in the second year of sales; it would reach "an accumulated income of €88m with a 41x return on equity by 2026"; and E-G2 would create 69 new positions at Evoy and its distributors.

The technical part was delivered. The final periodic report, covering December 2021 to February 2023, says E-G2 was optimised for weight, power and charging, went through "a large scale piloting period" and was "fully optimized and ready for large-scale commercialization". The aquaculture pilots are documented independently: AKVA group's Helgeland Plast built the Evoy1 prototype with Evoy, and in July 2021 it handed the salmon farmer Bremnes Seashore an 8.6-metre workboat with a 298 kW Evoy Hurricane inboard and a 120 kWh battery, according to Baird Maritime. The commercial promises were not met.

1. Mature E-G2 and pilot it with professional usersDeliveredPiloting and a commercial-ready system reported on CORDIS; Hurricane workboat delivered to Bremnes Seashore, per Baird Maritime.
2. Motors on sale to boat buildersDeliveredBreeze, Storm and Hurricane on sale; Axopar's AX/E line uses the Storm, per Trade Only Today.
3. 40 knots over 30 nautical milesNot shownEvoy's own range guide gives about 25 nautical miles at 20 to 25 knots; no test of the promised figure is published.
4. €88M accumulated income by 2026MissedOperating income of NOK 66.6M in 2022 to 2024 combined, per the filed accounts.
5. Recoup investment in the second year of salesMissedNet losses grew every year from 2022 to 2024.
6. 69 new positionsMissed5 employees registered for Evoy AS in October 2026.

On the money side of the award, the sources do not fully agree. The EIC selected Evoy for blended finance in 2020, and Innovation Norway's July 2020 announcement credited Evoy with NOK 47 million from the EIC without splitting grant and equity. Evoy's April 2022 release says the EIC Fund invested €3 million of equity in a €7.3 million first closing "in addition to their 2,3m € grant"; Boat Industry called the €2.3 million a loan, while CORDIS lists it as an EU contribution to the project. Evoy appears in the EIC Fund portfolio, which gives no amounts.

What Evoy Achieved After the Project

Private money followed the EIC. The April 2022 round was co-led by Klaveness Marine, Grieg Edge and Link VC, with the founders of AutoStore, Kahoot and Northvolt among the angels, according to Marine Industry News and the company. In June 2023 a €6.4 million bridge round brought in the Finnish boat builder Axopar, which took 10% of Evoy and placed orders worth more than €1 million, while the EIC Fund added €1 million of equity, according to Marine Industry News and Evoy.

In July 2024 Evoy and Vita announced that they would combine, with Vita's founder Stewart Wilkinson and Evoy's Leif Stavøstrand describing the group as Europe's leader in high-power electric marine propulsion, according to Boat Industry and Electrek. Neither said who was buying whom. The filings answer that: Evoy AS "purchased the entire share capital of Vita Yachts Ltd on 19th September 2024" and lent it £2,753,231, according to Vita's 2024 accounts, and Companies House lists Evoy AS as the person with significant control from that date. Vita, with subsidiaries in France and the United States, had an average of 35 staff in the nine months to December 2024 and accumulated losses of £20.2 million.

In October 2024 Evoy announced a €16 million offer of support from the EU Innovation Fund for a new headquarters and factory in Florø, as one of eight Norwegian companies, according to Evoy and Marine Industry News; Båtmagasinet put it at NOK 190 million. Four months later Evoy put the factory plans on hold indefinitely. Stavøstrand told Firdaposten that the grant's documentation requirements, the risk of losing part of it and payment in arrears made it too risky, and the company cut two jobs in Florø. The newspaper noted that the boat industry had been in a downturn since the pandemic.

The Money

The three sets of accounts available from the Norwegian accounts register show sales growing and losses growing faster. Operating income rose from NOK 15.2 million in 2022 to NOK 20.2 million in 2023 and NOK 31.2 million in 2024. Net losses were NOK 39.9 million, NOK 53.7 million and NOK 68.8 million. Wage costs rose from NOK 12.8 million to NOK 34.9 million over the same years.

The 2024 balance sheet changed shape with the Vita deal. Equity rose to NOK 485.2 million and fixed assets to NOK 433.9 million, against NOK 36.3 million of equity a year earlier, while cash fell to NOK 24.0 million and long-term debt stood at NOK 26.8 million. The register records a share capital increase to NOK 3,906,060.90 in June 2025. Whether new money came in with it, and how the group performed in 2025, is not public.

Why Europe Should Care

The EU's Sustainable and Smart Mobility Strategy sets a 90% cut in transport emissions by 2050 and a milestone that zero-emission marine vessels will be market-ready by 2030. CORDIS cites the claim that small fast boats generate 10 to 15 times more CO2 than land vehicles over the same distance, and that in Norway they emit about as much as all domestic flights combined. Evoy is one of few European suppliers of electric propulsion in the power class that recreational and work boats actually use.

The supply chain is less European than the brand. The battery of the new Breeze G2 comes from Taiga's plant in Montreal, according to Evoy, and the factory that the EU Innovation Fund offered to support in Norway was not built.

The Verdict

Evoy has not been asked for comment for this article. It is based entirely on public records, company statements and EU project data, linked throughout.