Exploring the highland tracks of Iceland with an EV

[Bobu]

After our last year's road trip to the North Cape with an EV, we wanted to try something more challenging this year. We took an Audi e-tron Sportback to Iceland to explore the remote highlands.











The first part of my trip report about the Austurleið track in the eastern highlands is now online:
https://ev-overlanding.com/2021/10/15/audi-e-tron-in-iceland-1-f910-austurleid/

I will also create a couple of YouTube videos from this trip. You can find the first episode here:


I will post updates about my trip in this thread regularly during the next weeks.
And I'm happy to answer questions about my experience with an EV in Iceland.

Boris

 

[Lovetheworld]

Nice trip! Did you trade in your Etron for this one?

 

[Bobu]

Nice trip! Did you trade in your Etron for this one?

Not really trade, but I currently use something similar to short-term leasing where I can change my car every 12 months.

 

[Bobu]

I've just finished the second part of my trip report, where we drove along the F909 and F923 through the Eastern Highlands of Iceland.

https://ev-overlanding.com/2021/10/30/audi-e-tron-in-iceland-2-f909-and-f923/

 

[Bobu]

Part 3 of my trip report is now finished as well as EP3 of my video series:
https://ev-overlanding.com/2021/12/...land-3-kjolur-kerlingarfjoll-and-thingvellir/




We crossed the western highlands of Iceland along the famous F35 Kjölur and visited the geothermal areas of Hveravellir, Kerlingarfjöll, and Haukadalur.
Here are some impressions of this episode:

 

[Bobu]

Part 4 of my trip report is now finished as well as EP4 of my video series:

AUDI E-TRON IN ICELAND | #4 – Kaldidalur and F578

This is part 4 of our road trip through the remote highlands of Iceland with the Audi e-tron. In case you missed it, you can find the start of our adventure here. After crossing the Eastern Highlan…

ev-overlanding.com

We crossed the Western Highlands of Iceland with the Audi e-tron along the Kaldidalur track and the F578. In addition, we visited some glaciers and hiked to the Fagradalsfall Volcano.

Here are some impressions from this episode:

 

[Bobu]

In part 5 we drove from Vik i Myrdal on the South-Coast of Iceland to the beautiful Þakgil valley and through many fords along the F206 to the Laki fissure.

Is there any interest in these trip report? Some feedback would be great.

AUDI E-TRON IN ICELAND | #5 – Þakgil and F206 Lakagígar

This is part 5 of our road trip through the remote highlands of Iceland with the Audi e-tron. In case you missed it, you can find the start of our adventure here. In the last part, we arrived in Ví…

ev-overlanding.com

 

[Bobu]

This is the final part of my trip report and also the final episode of my video series:

AUDI E-TRON IN ICELAND | #6 – F232 to Mælifell

This is the final part of our road trip through the remote highlands of Iceland with the Audi e-tron. In case you missed it, you can find the start of our adventure here. From our base camp on the …

ev-overlanding.com

We drove along the F232 to Maelifell. It was one of the most beautiful tracks in Iceland. After a quick visit of Vestrahorn, our trip finally came to an end and we had to take the ferry back to Denmark.
The Audi e-tron behaved flawlessly during the trip. Last time I was in Iceland I used a modified Nissan Patrol. It's quite fascinating how far you can get with an EV with just some additional planning and the right tires (Goodyear Wrangler DuraTrac). I could drive nearly 90% of the tracks I had done in the past with the Patrol.

 

[alanymarce]

Great photographs! Thanks for sharing - good memories of covering much of the same areas last July/August.

 

[givemethewillys]

Hey, I just found this thread today. I'm very intrigued and really enjoyed your videos! Do you have any insight as to how the etron performed? Did you have any range anxiety? It sure looked rural where you traveled, and I wouldn't expect there to be anyone with the capability to recharge you roadside if you misjudge or have to detour. It looked like that could also be a fossil fueled vehicle problem on that trip.

Thank you for sharing, I think an e-tron or bmw ix will be my wife's next vehicle.

 

[Bobu]

Hey, I just found this thread today. I'm very intrigued and really enjoyed your videos! Do you have any insight as to how the etron performed? Did you have any range anxiety? It sure looked rural where you traveled, and I wouldn't expect there to be anyone with the capability to recharge you roadside if you misjudge or have to detour. It looked like that could also be a fossil fueled vehicle problem on that trip.

Thank you for sharing, I think an e-tron or bmw ix will be my wife's next vehicle.

Thanks for your feedback!

The e-tron performed flawlessly on this trip. The offroad performance was very good, even better than I had expected. Traction even under difficult conditions was very good and ground clearance in the offroad mode of the air suspension was sufficient for all tracks. Just the wading depth limit of the e-tron was restricting the choice of tracks a bit.

Even under very extreme conditions (difficult steep mountain offroad tracks, car fully loaded, offroad tires, low temperature), we had at least 200 km range. Not great, but sufficient for most tracks. Even with an ICE vehicle, there are certain limits (unless you spent big money for long-range tanks if they even exist for your specific model).
A few years ago we had to abort a highlands trip with a Nissan Patrol in Iceland because we were running out of gas. Even with an ICE vehicle, you need some range planning in Iceland. There are neither chargers nor gas stations in the highlands. The only difference is, that with a Nissan Patrol you have a range of approximately 400 km under these conditions while with the e-tron you only have 200 km. But this will change with future generations of EVs.

Regarding range anxiety: we were always very conservative in our planning. Probably far more than really needed. The lowest SOC we have ever reached at the end of a trip was 13%. In addition, if we would have been running out of energy it would not be a huge problem for us. Even on the most remote tracks in Iceland, we have seen at least 2-3 other cars per day. Worst case we always had enough food, water, sleeping bags, and warm clothes in our car to be able to patiently wait for some help, even days if necessary. On more extreme tracks I also take my satellite phone.

 

[oldnslow]

Is there any interest in these trip report? Some feedback would be great.

I find it very interesting. The photography is excellent. I don't watch video (in general) due to very low bandwidth where I live, so I can't comment on that portion.

I find it very interesting that you could drive to such places with an electric car. The electics I've seen in the US tend to be very low to the ground, seriously limiting where the can go off pavement.

keep it up, please!

 

[Bobu]

I find it very interesting. The photography is excellent. I don't watch video (in general) due to very low bandwidth where I live, so I can't comment on that portion.

I find it very interesting that you could drive to such places with an electric car. The electics I've seen in the US tend to be very low to the ground, seriously limiting where the can go off pavement.

keep it up, please!

Thanks a lot for your comment, really appreciated!