Automotive Exports December 2019

200,000 electric vehicles predicted to
be sold in Turkey in next 3 years
Some 200,000 electric vehicles will be
sold in Turkey in the next three years,
according to Zorlu Holding Energy
Group Chairman Sinan Ak, who said the
driving force in this process will be the
domestic electric car, which is expected
to hit the market in 2022.
Speaking to a group of journalists, Ak
pointed to the tax advantage granted
for electric vehicles in Turkey, claiming
that the number of electric cars could
increase rapidly if these supports do
not decrease.
Ak noted that global automotive giant
companies had begun to launch their
electric models quickly to the European
market. “These models will also come
to the Turkish market. We cannot stop
this,” he further stressed, envisaging
that as the tendency to drive diesel
vehicles had increased rapidly in the
last quarter-century, the Turkish
people would display a similar trend in
electric vehicles.
Also, he underscored that the
production capacity of the electric
vehicle battery, which stood at 30,000
megawatts (MW) in the world five
years ago, had reached 300,000 MW.
Expressing that this increase would
also affect the production and sales
of electric vehicles, Ak said that 2020
might be a breaking year for the
electric vehicles market in the world.
He emphasized the importance of
the number of stations and battery
charging times for the spread of white
electric vehicles. Stating that 80% of
charging operations were installed in
homes and workplaces, Ak stressed
that serious additional investments
in the electricity network would be
needed. He estimated that the number
of electric vehicles in Turkey would
reach 2.2 million by 2030.
“In order to meet an additional charge
of this scale, an investment of $3
billion is required in 10 years, and $2
billion falls to distribution companies,
while about $1 billion will be met by
the companies investing in charging
stations,” he argued.
Explaining that in Europe, fast-charging
stations with a capacity of 350 kilowatts
were installed with a cost of $300,000,
Ak said that the charging time could go
down to 15 minutes with these stations
and that fast-charging stations could be
implemented together with automotive
companies in Turkey, as in Europe.
He also stated that the maintenance
and management of the charging
stations would produce a new sector.
“There are three companies, including
us, in the charging station market
in Turkey,” Ak continued. “As Zorlu
Energy Solutions (ZES), we have 30%
of the current market share. We will
try to increase our market share to
40% and keep it as much as possible.
The maintenance and management
of the charging stations are very
important here. We can be on this
side. Our priority is shopping centers
and airports. We also want to cover
the highways since no one has done it
yet, but our main target is homes and
businesses.”
The charging stations commissioned
by Zorlu Energy, under the ZES brand,
are currently operating in 24 cities.
With a total of 100 charging stations,
especially in the Mediterranean
and Aegean regions, the number of
ZES charging stations that provide
uninterrupted electric vehicle
transportation is targeted to reach
1,000 in the long term.
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