The number of charging points is rapidly increasing in Türkiye and has surpassed 8,800, Mustafa Yılmaz, the head of Türkiye’s Energy Market Regulatory Authority (EPDK), said Tuesday.

The rise in the charging points could be primarily attributed to the demand and interest in the country’s first homegrown fully electric car – Togg – that began deliveries earlier this year.

"We have reached a total of 8,861 charging points. Our country has approximately one fast charging (DC) point for every 14 vehicles. Türkiye ranks first in terms of DC charging points per vehicle in Europe," Yılmaz said.

Nearly 22,900 electric vehicles (EVs) were sold from January through August this year, according to the Automotive Distributors and Mobility Association (ODMD) data.

This translates into an over 597% increase compared to the 3,283 electric cars that were sold in the same period a year ago.

Togg, the first domestic Turkish automaker, earlier announced it delivered 3,400 of its T10X as of the end of August. Of this, 1,965 were delivered last month alone.

Yılmaz, in a written statement, noted that there are 6,633 slow charging (AC) and 2,228 DC charging points at 4,221 charging stations nationwide.

He emphasized that there are currently charging stations in 81 provinces, and the number of charging stations across the country continues to rise.

"Of course, this is directly related to the number of vehicles, but as the number of EVs increases rapidly, it is equally important for our charging points to increase at the same pace. This is truly gratifying for our industry," Anadolu Agency (AA) reported Yılmaz as saying.

According to the ODMD data earlier this month, battery-powered and hybrid vehicles saw their market shares reach 3.9% and 10.4% between January and August, up from just 0.9% and 10.3% in the first eight months of last year.

In addition, Yılmaz recommended the mobile application "Şarj@TR," developed by the EPDK, as a useful tool for all-electric vehicle owners.

He explained that the application provides real-time information about the geographical locations of charging stations, the types and power of charging units and sockets, payment methods, availability status and charging service prices.

While the number of electric vehicles in Türkiye is increasing, the EPDK is also taking steps to facilitate the lives of electric vehicle owners by regulating charging services.

With the regulation, charge point operator license holders can designate some or all of the charging points on their charging network as green charging stations, provided all the electricity supplied to those stations comes from renewable energy sources.

Highlighting the importance of green charging stations, which are certified to have all their electricity supplied from renewable energy sources, Yılmaz said, "It is currently possible to establish an integrated electric storage facility within the charging station to meet the electricity needs of any charging station using electricity from renewable energy sources."

"Now, in addition to integrated charging stations with electric storage and renewable energy production facilities, electric vehicle charging services can also be provided through green charging stations certified under YEK-G (the Renewable Energy Source Guarantee Document)."

"We expect our industry to continue its investments in this regard," Yılmaz concluded.