Touring Iceland By Electric Car: Cleaner, Cheaper, And Easier Than You Expect
- Sigurður Jóhann Finnsson
- 5 days ago
- 5 min read
Meta description: Renting an EV in Iceland makes sense: cheap renewable power, a solid charging network, and quiet driving. A local host covers routes, range, and winter tips.
There is a country where nearly all the electricity comes out of the ground and down the rivers, where the grid runs on volcanoes, and where petrol costs some of the most in Europe.
If ever a place was designed for the electric road trip, it is this one. And yet visitors still hesitate at the rental desk, worried about range, chargers, and winter. Locals made the switch long ago: Iceland has one of the highest EV adoption rates in the world, behind only Norway by most counts.
We host guests with rental EVs all year, we charge them in our own driveway, and we can report from experience: touring southwest Iceland electric works brilliantly. Done right, it beats the petrol version of the trip. Here is the honest guide.
Why Iceland And EVs Fit So Well
The electricity is the point. Iceland generates essentially all its power from renewable hydro and geothermal sources. Charging a car here is about as clean as driving gets anywhere on Earth. The waterfall you photographed at noon is, in a roundabout way, filling your battery at midnight.
The economics follow. Petrol in Iceland is painfully expensive. Electricity is not. A public fast charge costs a fraction of the equivalent petrol fill, and overnight destination charging, where included, costs nothing. Across a week of day trips, the saving buys a very nice dinner in Reykjavik.
The distances flatter the battery. Visitors imagine Iceland as vast emptiness, and parts of it are. But the classic capital-based itinerary is a series of modest loops. The Golden Circle runs 230 to 300 km. A Sky Lagoon evening is a rounding error. Even the big South Coast day to Vik and back, around 370 km, sits within range planning that any modern EV handles.
The driving suits it too. Icelandic speed limits top out at 90 km/h, the pace that batteries love. And an EV's silence belongs on these roads: gliding across the Thingvellir plain with nothing but wind noise is the countryside heard properly.
The Charging Network, Honestly Described
The southwest, where most visitors spend most of their time, is well covered. Fast chargers cluster around the capital area and along the Golden Circle and southern Ring Road, run by networks like ON Power and Isorka. Petrol stations, supermarkets, and visitor centres increasingly host them.
Download the network apps before you leave the villa wifi, load a payment card, and the process becomes routine: plug in at Selfoss or Hella, buy a coffee and a cinnamon bun, and return to a car with more than enough for the afternoon.
Two honest caveats. First, remote regions, the Westfjords, the highlands, the far east, need real planning and are a different article. Second, in high season the popular fast chargers occasionally queue. The fix for both is the same habit that defines good EV touring everywhere: start every day full, so public charging becomes a top-up rather than a dependency.
The Overnight Advantage
Which brings us to the quiet trick of the whole system. The best charger in Iceland is the one where you sleep.
Our villa includes free EV charging, and watching guests use it has taught us how much it changes the trip. Every morning starts at 100 percent. No detour to start the day, no queue, no app fumbling in the rain. The car simply refuels itself while you are in the hot tub.
Run the arithmetic on a typical stay. Golden Circle day: leave full, return with plenty, plug in. South Coast day: leave full, one relaxed top-up at Vik or Hvolsvollur while eating lunch, home with margin, plug in. Reykjavik and Sky Lagoon days barely dent the battery at all. Across a week, many guests never pay for a single public charge.
When you book accommodation for an EV trip, in Iceland or anywhere, put included charging on the must-have list next to the washing machine. It converts the one supposed weakness of electric touring into a non-event.
Winter EV Driving, From People Who Do It
The winter question deserves a straight answer, because the internet is full of horror stories written from warmer countries.
Cold and headwinds genuinely cut range, commonly by 20 to 30 percent here. Icelandic EV drivers, and there are tens of thousands of us, handle it with three habits.
Plan with margin. Treat quoted range as 70 percent real in winter. The southwest's charger spacing makes this comfortable everywhere tourists actually go.
Precondition while plugged in. Warm the cabin and battery on mains power before leaving, and the car does not spend its own range doing it. Five minutes on the app, big difference.
Respect the weather like every other driver. Storms close roads for petrol cars too. Check vedur.is and road.is each morning, exactly as we tell every winter guest regardless of engine type.
Winter bonus: an EV's instant, finely controlled torque is genuinely pleasant on slippery surfaces, and rental EVs come properly tyred for the season.
Frequently Asked Questions About EV Travel In Iceland
Is it worth renting an electric car in Iceland?
For capital-based touring, clearly yes: nearly zero-carbon charging, big fuel savings against expensive petrol, and routes that fit EV range comfortably. For remote multi-region expeditions, weigh the planning load first.
Can you drive the Golden Circle in an electric car?
Comfortably on one charge. The loop runs 230 to 300 km, well within a modern EV starting full. Chargers at Selfoss and around the route add margin you will rarely need.
Are there enough charging stations?
On the southwest tourist routes, yes, with fast chargers at sensible intervals run by ON Power, Isorka, and others. Remote regions are thinner. Apps downloaded in advance make the whole thing painless.
How does winter affect EV range here?
Expect 20 to 30 percent less than quoted. Start each day full, plan on 70 percent of rated range, precondition while plugged in, and winter touring works smoothly.
How much does charging cost?
Public fast charging runs well below the petrol equivalent, and included overnight charging at your accommodation costs nothing. Many of our guests complete whole stays on driveway charging alone.
What should I check when renting an EV in Iceland?
Confirm winter tyres in season, ask which charging network cards or apps the car includes, check the real-world range of the specific model, and book accommodation with charging included so every day starts at 100 percent.
Drive The Country On The Country's Own Power
Somewhere on the road east, with the glaciers ahead and the silence inside, it clicks: this country sounds better without an engine shouting over it. Powered by its own rivers, no less.
Iceland SJF Villa makes the electric trip effortless: free EV charging on private parking, ten minutes from Reykjavik, positioned at the start of every classic southern route, with a hot tub waiting at the end of each driving day.
Email sjf@itn.is, call +354 699 5552, or send a booking enquiry through the website. The driveway charger will be ready.
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