The deployment of electric car charging stations throughout Turkey is due to accelerate when a new regulation is adopted enabling electric car drivers to access public charging stations, whose price will be regulated on a kilowatt-hour basis, head of Turkey’s Energy Market Regulatory Authority (EBDK) told Anadolu Agency (AA) exclusively.
The regulation covers the rules for charging units and stations and charging services, Mustafa Yılmaz, head of EPDK, said.
One of these rules stipulates that charging stations connect to a charging network.
Other conditions specify that companies applying for a charging network operator license need to have a minimum capital of TL 4.5 million and are also required to deploy at least 50 charging units.
The regulation also obliges companies to designate at least 5% of the charging units as fast chargers, of at least a capacity of DC 50 kilowatts.
Moreover, at least 50% of the charging stations on highways are required to have a minimum capacity of DC 50 kilowatts, he said.
"Electric car charging services will be open to all users, with prices based on kilowatt-hours only. Stations cannot charge users any extra costs," Yılmaz said.
An online platform called Free Access Platform, which EPDK will establish, will allow users to see availability at stations to make charging reservations, station locations, charging capacity, costs and payment methods.
Furthermore, a new loyalty scheme will ensure users can benefit from 20% price discounts.
These charging stations will be open to renewable power and storage integration, he said.
Under the regulation, meanwhile, non-refundable support will be provided for electric vehicle charging station investments, up to 75% of the investment cost and up to TL 20 million. Operating expense support will not be applied for these projects.
At the end of 2021, Turkey had over 6,000 electric cars on the road and around 3,500 charging units.
Istanbul had the highest number of charging units with 1,265, followed by Ankara and Izmir with 320 and 235, respectively.