Electric car use in Turkey rises by 150 percent

The number of electric and hybrid cars in use in Turkey has increased by 150 percent compared to last year, reaching 44,291, according to the Turkish Statistical Institute.

These cleaner machines, which emit fewer carbon emissions compared to fossil fuels, have been increasing steadily over the past 10 years. 

In 2011, there were only 47 such vehicles registered in Turkey. Five years later, their numbers increased by a thousand for the first time and rose to around 15,000 in 2019.

The number of registered electric and hybrid cars was 17,749 in February 2020 - it reached 36,487 by the end of the year. This has increased again: the number of cars in question was recorded as 44,291 at the end of February 2021, a 150 percent increase compared to the same period last year.

However, despite a considerable increase in their presence on the roads, the overall share of these cleaner vehicles in the market remains low.

As of the end of February, only 0.3 percent of the registered 13,214,599 cars were electric or hybrid.

The rate of electric or hybrid vehicles (9.1 percent) among new registered cars, exceeded the rate of LPG fuelled cars (4.9 percent) for the first time in February.

Last month, 3,885 electric or hybrid cars and 2,79 LPG-fuelled cars were registered in traffic.

Electric car technology

While a "green transformation" has accelerated in many areas from industry to the services sector, these developments have led the world's leading automotive companies to accelerate investments in electric car production.

In the European Union, sales of electric and plug-in hybrid cars almost tripled, passing a million vehicles.

The data released by the European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA) showed that sales of fully-electric and plug-in hybrids surged to 1.046 million vehicles from 387,808 in 2019.

Sales of self-charging hybrid cars climbed 59 percent to 1.182 million last year, while petrol and diesel vehicle sales fell 37 percent and 32 percent respectively, the data showed.

Petrol cars remained the biggest seller, however, accounting for 48 percent of all EU sales.

Car makers have been benefiting from government subsidies for electric vehicles as part of pandemic recovery programmes, especially in France and Germany. They are also obliged to meet stringent new EU carbon emissions targets.

On the other hand, sales of fully-electric vehicles more than doubled to 538,772 from 247,854 a year earlier.

By 2030, the EU aims to have at least 30 million zero-emission vehicles on its roads, according to Reuters.

Turkey kicked off its domestic electric car project, Turkey’s Automobile Joint Venture Group (TOGG), at the end of December in 2019.

The SUV will be the first car to be certified 'Made in Turkey' and is expected to hit roads by 2022. Turkey's Automobile Joint Venture Group, also known as TOGG, says at least five models will be released by 2030.