You've just landed at Keflavík International Airport, collected your rental EV, and there's a 50 km drive to Reykjavík between you and your first hotel bed. The car's at 70–90% charge — comfortably enough — but if your flight got in at 2 a.m. and your hotel is in 101 Reykjavík, knowing exactly where the chargers are on this route is a small thing that saves a lot of friction.
Right at the airport
Keflavík International Airport (KEF) has chargers in the long-stay car park, but they're mostly intended for airport staff and people leaving their car for a week. As an arriving renter, you're driving away from the airport, not parking at it. Skip these.
The car rental lots — Hertz, Avis, Blue Car Rental, Lava, Reykjavík Cars, etc. — typically charge their EVs to 80–100% before handing them over. Confirm the state of charge before you drive off; if it's under 70%, ask them to top it up or note it on the rental contract.
Reykjanesbær — the first town
Reykjanesbær (Keflavík + Njarðvík combined) is 5 km from the airport and your first realistic charging stop if you need one. Options:
- N1 Reykjanesbær — 2× CCS2 DC fast chargers, 50 kW. Standard contactless payment.
- Orkan Fitjar (Njarðvík) — Kempower flagship, up to 600 kW dynamically shared across seven CCS stalls plus one CCS/CHAdeMO. Currently the fastest in the area.
- ON Power at the Aurora Hotel — DC fast, 50 kW. Often empty even in summer.
For a 10-minute top-up before driving to Reykjavík, head to Orkan Fitjar in Njarðvík — high power, you'll add 15–25 kWh in the time it takes to grab a coffee.
The drive to Reykjavík (Reykjanesbraut, Route 41)
The 50 km airport-to-Reykjavík stretch on the Reykjanesbraut is dead-flat highway driving. A typical EV consumes ~9–11 kWh on this leg. There are no chargers between Reykjanesbær and the Reykjavík city limit — but you don't need any. Even arriving at 40% from the rental lot, you'll roll into Reykjavík with 25%+ left.
Once you reach Reykjavík
The Reykjavík metro area has the densest charging coverage in Iceland. Quick reference for your first night:
- If your hotel has parking with a Type 2 socket — plug in for the night. Free at most properties, slow but adequate.
- If your hotel has no charging — there are public chargers at most major streets (Hringbraut, Suðurlandsbraut, Borgartún), most ON Power 11–22 kW AC and 50 kW DC.
- Tesla Supercharger Reykjavík at the IKEA site in Garðabær — 12 stalls, 250 kW, open to any CCS2-equipped EV. ~10 minutes from downtown.
- Orkan at Smáralind shopping mall in Kópavogur — fast chargers up to 300 kW, very rarely busy outside Black Friday weekend.
Late-night arrivals: a 30-second plan
- Confirm your car has 60%+ on departure from the rental lot.
- Drive straight to your hotel — the 50 km uses only 15–20% of the battery.
- Plug into the hotel's AC charger overnight if available; otherwise sort it in the morning.
- If you need fast charging on the way for any reason, take the Orkan Fitjar exit (Njarðvík) just off the Reykjanesbraut — about 7 minutes from the airport.
If you're driving straight south or east
Some itineraries skip Reykjavík entirely and drive south to Vík or up to Borgarnes on arrival day. From Keflavík:
- Headed south (Vík, South Coast): Drive 60 km to Selfoss, where there's an Orkan Kempower flagship (up to 600 kW total across multiple stalls), an ON Power site, and Ísorka at Olís all within walking distance. Charge there, push on.
- Headed north (Borgarnes, Akureyri): Drive 100 km through Reykjavík to Borgarnes, which has ON Power 100 kW and N1 50 kW. The Hvalfjörður tunnel adds 7 km of mild range cost.
See the full Reykjanes region charging map for everything around the airport, and the EV charging cost breakdown for what each top-up actually costs.
What about the late-night winter scenario
Worst-case: you land in late January at midnight, it's -8 °C, the car has 50% charge and your hotel is downtown Reykjavík. Even then, the 50 km drive comfortably finishes with 25–30% left over because the heat soak from a warm parked rental keeps the battery happy on the first leg. You won't need to charge before bed.
The exception is if the rental was sitting outside for 12+ hours in a cold-soak and shows up at 40%. In that case, do a 10-minute top-up at Orkan Fitjar in Njarðvík before getting on the Reykjanesbraut — winter consumption is real and you don't want to find out at 1 a.m. how cold your car really is.