Number of charging stations may reach 20,000 this year

ISTANBUL - İhlas News Agency

The number of charging stations for electric vehicles (EV) in Türkiye is expected to reach 15,000 to 20,000 by the end of this year.

Presently, there are 6,500 charging stations in the country with 60 percent of those stations in Istanbul, the country’s most populous city.

Experts believe if the charging station network expands to cover other cities, this could give a boost to EV sales.

People say they are reluctant to buy EVs because the charging station network is not widespread, show surveys.

However, EV sales in Türkiye have been on the rise. In March, EV sales leaped 244 percent on an annual basis to 2,193. But this still only corresponded to 2.8 percent of all vehicle sales in the country.

In the first three months of 2023, a total of 4,670 EVs were sold on the local market, pointing to a strong 335 percent increase from the first quarter of 2022.

Eşarj said last month that it plans to install 1,000 charging stations with the goal to have at least one fast-charging station in each of the 81 provinces by the end of 2023.

Eşarj has been the first player in the industry to operate charging stations since 2009.

It operates a total of 546 charging stations, including 383 fast-charging (DC) and 163 AC stations, in 57 cities.

The company directs more than 90 percent of its new investments to DC fast-charging stations.