Headquartered in Bergen, Norway and a research and development department in Tønsberg, the Elfly Group is developing commercial electric seaplanes, which the company expects to be fully certified and operational in 2029. The aim is to offer emissions- and guilt-free airflights in Norway.
The hull is now being tested at SINTEF’s town tank in Trondheim, and thanks to an NOK84m (EUR7.5m) grant, Elfly hope they will change local passenger traffic on a larger scale.
“This is going to be a kind of battery-powered flying boat. The goal is for us to be able to offer flexible mobility in Norway, have zero emissions, significantly less noise pollution and develop new sustainable business models,” says CEO of Elfly Eric Lithun.
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Elfly was founded in 2018 and has a team of more than 20 people. The group is involved in three core projects:
- Designing commercial electric seaplanes
- Distributing Bye Aerospace electric aircraft to the Scandinavian general aviation market
- Involved in the development of the fastest electric aircraft in the world, as part of the company’s partnership with the Nordic Air Racing Team.
The seaplane is dubbed Noemi and is designed for seating between six and 13 passengers depending on configuration and boasts a range of 170km. The distance might seem short but since Noemi is a seaplane and designed for Norway’s challenging terrain, the aircraft could prove a whole new level for convenience and sustainability to similar challenges all over the world.
Elfly’s endeavours align with the Norwegian Government’s ambitions to make domestic aviation entirely emission free by 2040. Moreover the Elfly Group is a founding member of the Nordic Network for Electric Aviation, a platform where Nordic aerospace companies come together to accelerate the introduction of electric aviation in the Nordic countries.
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“It is especially important to develop the fuselage so that the aircraft can take off with the least possible force. The challenge will be to find the ultimate combination of aero- and hydrodynamics,” says SINTEF researcher Kourosh Koushan.
As a seaplane, Noemi can skip congested airports and deliver passengers from one city center to another. If Elfly gets what they want, the aircraft of the future will be electric, environmentally-friendly and quieter, according to SINTEF.
In addition to passenger travel, the seaplanes can also be used for freight transport, ambulance transport and premium flights where you can charter the entire aircraft. “We envisage that it can be used for exclusive electric plane safaris,” says Lithun.
Emissions- and Guilt-Free Airflights in Norway, written by Tor Kjolberg