Business

Good infrastructure, incentives key for Turkish EV sales

Consequences of novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic will affect the numbers of individual car ownership

The burgeoning electric vehicle (EV) industry in Turkey needs a strong infrastructure and a supportive customer scheme to increase the 100% electric-powered cars from the modest number of 2,500 in use between 2011 and 2020, according to Turkey’s Electric and Hybrid Vehicles Association Head on Monday.

Sales of electric cars worldwide, which accounted for 2.6% of global car sales and about 1% of global car stock in 2019, reached 2.1 million in 2019, boosting the electric car stock to 7.2 million, according to the International Energy Agency’s (IEA) Global EV Outlook 2020 report released in mid-2020.

Turkey has seen an increase in the number of hybrid vehicles, which combine a petrol or diesel engine with an electric motor, to 22,722 by the end of 2020.

Berkan Bayram, president of Turkey’s Electric and Hybrid Vehicles Association told Anadolu Agency that in keeping with the trend of more electric cars in Turkey, the infrastructure for electric-vehicle charging is expanding.

“We have observed that Turkish customers tend to go for electric powered automobiles or hybrid models if there is an option to buy rather than lease or instead of diesel engines,” he said.

However, he added that the lack of incentives to buy electric cars forces them to choose other options.

He said how governments respond in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic will influence the numbers of individual car ownership in the future, and the pace of the transition to EVs if they are motivated to double-down on transport electrification efforts.

In part, the ability and speed to recover economically from a second wave of the pandemic is also a factor in determining strategies for automakers and auto buyers.

Behavioral changes resulting from the current crisis could also influence transportation and the kind of transportation taking oil prices into consideration, he said.

“Electric cars are likely to have a much better year in 2021 than the rest of the auto industry, as they are gradually becoming competitive in some countries on the basis of the total cost of ownership,” he stated.

According to Bayram, the plans unveiled in December 2019 for Turkey’s first indigenous and all-electric car manufacture will play a major part in boosting the production and use of EVs in the country.

The country in December 2019 unveiled its first indigenous and all-electric automobile prototype.

Automobile consortium group, (TOGG), will build five different car models by 2030.

Source
Anadolu Agency

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