1. The EV fleet

Registered battery-electric (BEV) and plug-in hybrid (PHEV) vehicles at year end, all weight classes (Statistics Iceland, table SAM30120) — set against the charging network on the map. Official breakdowns by region or make are not yet available in open APIs.

EV counts are official Statistics Iceland year-end figures (table SAM30120: 25,238 BEVs in 2024, 18,512 in 2023) — the fleet has grown since, so EVs per connector is if anything higher today. Monthly registrations are at bifreidatolur.samgongustofa.is. Norway: ~9,500 public fast-charging points at the end of 2024 (NOBIL/Statista) for 5.55 M residents. The comparison is of points, not stations.

2. The connector: ask about the cable

Two connectors matter in Iceland. CCS is the fast-charging standard (269 connectors) and is on every large station along the main road. Type 2 is by far the most common connector (1,128 connectors) but it is slow charging (11–22 kW) and is what you find at hotels, swimming pools and campsites.

The single most important thing when booking: ask whether a Type 2 cable comes with the car. Fast chargers have a tethered cable, but the slow ones are usually just a socket. Without your own cable you cannot use them — which means no overnight charging at the hotel, the cheapest charging there is.

CHAdeMO (166 connectors) is on its way out and mainly fits older Nissan Leafs. Teslas use CCS here, so they can use every fast charger, plus 9 Supercharger connectors.

3. Real range: plan for less

The quoted range (WLTP) is measured at 23 °C at a steady speed. Icelandic conditions are nothing like that: cold slows the battery down, the cabin heater takes its share, and the wind never lets up.

• Temperature: at 0–5 °C expect 10–20% less range, and more in frost and snow.
• Headwind: 10 m/s against you can take another 15–25%, and that is an ordinary day in the south.
• Speed: 90 km/h on the Ring Road uses far more than pottering around town.

Rule of thumb: count on 70% of the quoted range between fast chargers in winter, 80–85% in summer. The trip planner on the map does this for you: it fetches the temperature and wind direction along your route and corrects the range before choosing charging stops.

One trick nobody tells you: preheat the car while it is still plugged in. Warming the cabin and battery draws from the charger instead of the battery, so you set off with a warm car and a full charge instead of spending the first 20 km of range on the heater. Every rental EV has this in its app or menu — ask at the desk how to find it.

4. What does charging cost?

The weighted average price for fast charging in Iceland is about 65 ISK/kWh (guest rate, no membership discount). Slow charging is cheaper, and at many hotels and campsites it is included.

The EV is the cheapest on energy — about a quarter below petrol and about 13% below diesel on fast charging alone. Charge at home overnight and the same 300 km costs about a fifth of that: ~1,100 ISK against ~5,100 ISK for petrol. Household electricity here runs at roughly 19 ISK/kWh including distribution and levies, against 65 ISK/kWh at a fast charger — which is why most people here fast-charge only on the road. The road fee falls equally on both and makes no difference to the comparison.

5. The highlands and F-roads

There are no charging stations in the central highlands. Rental companies also almost always forbid taking an EV onto F-roads, and most EVs have neither the ground clearance nor the capability for river crossings. If you are heading to Landmannalaugar, Þórsmörk or Kjölur, rent a combustion-engine 4x4.

For the Ring Road, the Golden Circle, Snæfellsnes, the south coast and the Westfjords, however, an EV is perfectly realistic. The range map shows where the gaps are widest.

6. Booking checklist

• Is a Type 2 cable included? Without one you cannot use the slow chargers (hotels, campsites).
• What is the real range? Ask for the battery size in kWh, not just the “range”.
• Is charging included at the hotel? The cheapest charging is the kind you do not pay for.
• How do you pay? Card at the station or an app? Check whether the rental company lends you a charging card.
• Are F-roads allowed? Almost always no in an EV — get this straight before planning any highland trip.
• Winter tyres? Required by law from 1 November to 14 April, and they make all the difference in an EV on ice.

7. Insurance and the fine print

Icelandic conditions are hard on rental cars, and cover that sounds like overkill at home is sensible here. Four things are specific to Iceland:

• Sand and ash cover (SAAP): a sandstorm on the south coast can strip paint and frost the windows in under an hour, and without this cover the excess runs into hundreds of thousands of krónur. If the forecast mentions strong wind near Vík or Skeiðarársandur, take it seriously.
• Gravel protection (GP): chipped windscreens from loose gravel are the most routine damage there is on Icelandic country roads — many rental companies price this cover cheaply precisely because they know it gets used.
• Doors and wind: a door caught by a gust is one of the most common single claims on rental cars here, and it is often excluded from the standard waiver. Open doors with both hands when it blows, and park facing into the wind.
• River crossings are never covered: water damage voids every waiver, on every car, at every company. In an EV this is doubly academic — you are not going into a ford at all.

On price-comparison sites such as DiscoverCars.com you can add a full-coverage option at booking that refunds the excess if something happens — often cheaper than the equivalent package at the rental desk. Read what it excludes all the same: tyres, windscreen and the underbody are treated differently from one policy to the next.

8. Driving in Iceland — on an EV

The rules of the road are the same whatever powers the car, and SafeTravel — run by the Icelandic Association for Search and Rescue — is the place to read them in full. What follows is the part that is different in an electric car.

• Wind and frost, not distance, decide your range. Speed limits assume good conditions, and in winter they rarely apply. A headwind of 15 m/s or temperatures around freezing can take a third off what the dashboard promised. The trip planner factors both into every leg — that is why it sometimes asks for a stop you thought you could skip.
• Headlights are on around the clock, all year. That is the law here, not a setting to leave on automatic. The draw is small next to what the motor uses, but on a long dark winter leg it is not nothing.
• Slow down where the asphalt turns to gravel. The grip changes at that line and an EV is the heavier car, with the weight low down. Lift off gently rather than braking hard: strong regeneration on loose gravel behaves like braking on one axle only.
• Single-lane bridges: 50 km/h, and whoever arrives first goes first. Slow down early. Coasting up to a bridge costs an EV nothing — you get the energy back.
• Lokað means closed. The sign only goes up when it has to. On an EV a closure is worse than a detour: the alternative route may have no charger on it at all. Check conditions the same morning, and look at where the nearest station is before you take the diversion.
• Off-road driving is banned, and the highlands have no chargers. F-roads and gravel roads are legal; leaving them is not. For an EV the two rules point the same way — the places you are not allowed to drive are also the places with nowhere to plug in.
• Stop where stopping is meant to happen. Pulling over on the shoulder for a photograph causes accidents every summer. Charging stations are, conveniently, car parks with a view — 226 places with fast charging, most of them next to something worth looking at.

9. Before you set off

Road conditions and weather change fast here, especially outside summer. Check the situation the same morning you drive, not the night before.

Road conditions right now

Weather right now

Official sites worth keeping to hand

Common questions, answered with data

Compare rental cars

We link to DiscoverCars.com for price comparison because it shows Icelandic and international rental companies side by side for Keflavík Airport, with ratings and cancellation terms visible before you commit. Filter for an electric car and check whether a cable is included — the two things this whole guide comes down to.

This is an affiliate link: we may earn a commission if you book, at no extra cost to you. Using the charging map is free and this never affects which stations we show or how the trip planner chooses charging stops.

Charging stations by town

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