Hydrolift Smart-City Ferries AS, Hyke, from the Eker Group, is pleased to announce the appointment of Bjørn Utgård as new Chief Executive Officer as of 1 Dec 2021. 

OSLO, Norway, Dec 21, 2021–Hyke, the autonomous zero-emission ferries start up from the EKER Group, announced that Bjørn Utgård has been appointed Chief Executive Officer.   

Mr. Utgård has over 15 years of international experience in e-mobility, distributed energy and material technology, developing new ventures in various countries. He has lived and worked in Norway, the USA, Japan, Costa Rica and the Netherlands.

“Bjørn Utgård  has the combination of skills, background and commitment to deliver on our bold plans,” said Bård Eker, Chairman of Hyke and Founder and CEO of Eker Group. “We are excited that Bjørn has joined our team’s ambition to revolutionize urban waterborne transportation systems, leveraging Norwegian design and technology.” 

Most recently, Mr. Utgård worked in electric vehicle charging internationally in his role as Vice President of Sales at EVBox at its Amsterdam HQ, where he started out as Director New Markets in 2017. During his tenure Mr Utgård played a pivotal role in helping the company transition from small start-up to a global industry player.  

“I have devoted my career to accelerating the transition to zero-emission energy and mobility, and am excited to join the Hyke team at a pivotal time for clean mobility,” said Bjørn Utgård. “Hyke’s zero-emission ferry networks offer cities an innovative opportunity to eliminate emissions while delivering a mobility option that citizens love, freeing up prime real-estate in the process. Hyke’s unique approach to design, engineering and operations means zero-emission ferry networks can become economically sustainable.” 

Over the years, Mr. Utgård worked as strategic adviser to various companies and organizations, including environmental ship technology at DNV GL, energy and climate policy at Bellona, and materials processing technology at Agroplas. He also helped pioneer e-mobility and smart charging pathways for Costa Rica, a first-mover in renewable energy.  

He received an MSc in Engineering from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) and studied Energy Economics at Kyoto University in Japan. 

About Hyke

Hydrolift Smart-City Ferries AS, Hyke, is a Norwegian zero-emission waterborne mobility start-up. It aims to help cities solve pollution and congestion problems by deploying networks of zero emission electric, autonomous ferries for mobility and last-mile logistics. Hyke is a member of the Eker Group, Norway’s leading industrial design and product-development company with over 35 years of experience, including Hydrolift, the recognized leader in professional and pleasure boats. For more information, visit www.hyke.no and www.ekergroup.com.

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