Gov’t should coordinate charging infrastructure: Report

ISTANBUL

A comprehensive national charging system is fundamental to Türkiye’s successful transition to electric vehicles (EVs) by 2030, the World Bank has said in a report.

To ensure that charging systems grow in tandem with vehicle sales, the Turkish government must coordinate the deployment of public and private charging infrastructure to support all kinds of EV operators — from private vehicles to fleets of all types of vehicles, including public sector purchases at all levels of government, the bank said.

Mass adoption of EVs will remain slow without publicly accessible charging stations to supplement home and office chargers in all contexts — urban, peri-urban, rural, and long-distance, it added.

The need for such charging facilities in densely populated areas is particularly important for Türkiye, given the large share of the population living in apartments and having limited access to charging areas near their home, according to the report.

Without fast-charger coverage all over the country, the EV market may stall, as range anxiety discourages consumers from purchasing EVs, it said.

“For this reason, the Turkish government should declare a strategic goal to cover the country with a sufficient network of fast chargers, guided by a deployment roadmap.”

The bank recommended that to provide regional coverage, Türkiye could be divided into zones.

“As the western part of the country is more developed, the zones are narrower [about 25 km] than those in the eastern part [about 50 km]. Counting the regional coverage and highway coverage together, it is estimated that 1,089 DC fast chargers would be sufficient to cover all of Türkiye.”

EV sales grew 442 percent year-on-year to 7,527 in January-April, accounting for 3 percent of all vehicle sales in Türkiye.