Türkiye has laid the foundation for a facility that will manufacture batteries, which will power its first domestically manufactured automobile, and develop other energy storage solutions.
"We started our journey by aiming to make Türkiye a production hub of Europe in charging and battery technologies along with electric vehicles," President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan told a ceremony in Gemlik town in the northwestern province of Bursa on Monday.
Gemlik is home to a major port and a factory of Türkiye's first domestically produced car Togg.
The plant of Siro, a joint venture of Togg and Chinese electric vehicle battery maker Farasis, will launch production in 2024, Erdoğan said.
Togg and Farasis signed a deal in October 2020 to build a lithium-ion battery factory. Founded a year later, Siro will offer battery solutions for the automotive industry and storage solutions for renewable energy, power grids, charging stations and residential buildings.
The company is poised to become a major-league player with an annual production capacity of 20 gigawatt-hours (GWh), including battery cells. It will initially develop and produce battery modules and packs.
The annual production capacity at the Siro Battery Development and Production Campus, to be set up on a 607,000 square meter area next to Togg’s production site in Bursa, is planned to be increased to 50 GWh by 2035.
Erdoğan said the investment would ensure that Türkiye becomes a strong player in battery technologies.
"This campus will become an integrated center producing battery modules and packages with high nickel, including battery cells, by 2026," he noted.
Siro says it will export its energy storage solutions to 120 countries worldwide.
Erdoğan has long sought to fulfill a long-held dream of building Türkiye's first national automobile, part of his vision of turning Türkiye into an economic powerhouse.
Togg launched mass production of its T10X, a C-segment SUV, last October and started deliveries earlier this month. The T10X will be initially sold with one engine type and two battery options.
The model will feature battery packs with capacities of 52.4 and 88.5 kilowatt-hours, boasting ranges of 314 and 523 kilometers (195 and 325 miles), respectively.
The batteries of the Togg T10X can be recharged to up to 80% from 20% in less than 28 minutes at fast-charging stations.
The vehicle is being manufactured by a consortium of five Turkish companies called the Automobile Initiative Group of Türkiye, or Togg, in cooperation with the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Türkiye (TOBB).
"With the introduction of our domestic and national car, our country now has an automobile and a brand that can compete with the best in the world," Erdoğan said.
Addressing a crowd before the ceremony, the president said Togg was "not just a car brand."
"At the same time, it is a technology initiative with its design and software," he noted. "The battery initiative is also the most important move of this breakthrough. These batteries are products that can be used not only in Togg, but also in many other areas."
Besides the SUV, Togg will manufacture four other models – a sedan, C-hatchback, B-SUV and B-MPV – by 2030. The sedan will follow the mass production of the SUV.
The current production capacity stands at around 100,000 vehicles per year, which is expected to reach 175,000 once Togg's factory reaches full capacity.
Erdoğan said some 28,000 units would be produced this year, adding that the brand aims to produce 1 million vehicles across the five segments by 2030.
The president said Togg would begin to be exported as of 2025 while the initial production will be tailored for the domestic market.