Migros to establish charging stations company

ISTANBUL

Migros, one of Türkiye’s largest supermarket chains, has announced plans to establish a new company that will operate charging stations for electric vehicles.

“It has been decided to establish a new company in order to operate charging units and stations which will provide energy to electric vehicles, manage a charging network and stations and provide charging service,” the company said in a filing with Borsa Istanbul.

The new company will be a wholly owned subsidiary of Migros, the company said, adding that its founding capital will be 4.5 million Turkish Liras ($242,000) to be paid in cash.

“The applications to obtain legal authorizations, including Energy Market Regulatory Authority (EPDK) license, will be made in order to provide such services,” the statement said.

Migros increased the number of its stores from 2,405 in the first half of 2021 to 2,681 in January-June this year.

In its guidance for 2022, the company said it was planning to open around 350 new stores this year.

More than 4,000 electric vehicles were sold in Türkiye in January-September, up 160 percent from a year ago, a report from the Automotive Distributors’ Association (ODD) showed this week. Electric vehicles accounted for 1 percent of all car sales in the country in the first nine months of the year.

In September electric vehicle sales grew 112 percent on an annual basis to 773.