Popularity of EVs in country is part of global trend of emerging markets spurning fossil fuel cars at surprising speeds
Popularity of EVs in country is part of global trend of emerging markets spurning fossil fuel cars at surprising speeds
When Berke Astarcıoğlu bought a BMW i3 in 2016, he was one of just 44 people in a country of 80 million to buy a battery electric vehicle (BEV) that year. By the time he bought a Tesla in 2023, BEVs were no longer a complete oddity in Turkey, making up 7% of new car sales.
Fast-forward two years and electric cars are selling so fast that Turkey has caught up with the EU in its rate of adoption. Its market is now the fourth largest in Europe, behind Germany, the UK and France.
“A premium product is a thing that makes you happy but that not everyone can have,” said Astarcıoğlu, a mechatronic engineer from Istanbul and the developer of an app to find charging stations. “My Tesla has become an ordinary car over here.”
BEVs made up 16.7% of new car sales in Turkey in 2025, just behind the EU’s 17.4%, registration data published on Tuesday shows. While uptake is lower than in the Netherlands or the Nordics, where BEVs make up 35% to 96% of new cars sold, sales in Turkey have raced ahead of almost every country in southern and eastern Europe.
Its electric vehicle surge is part of a global trend in which emerging markets from Uruguay to Vietnam are spurning fossil fuel-burning cars at surprising speed. The latest data comes as Turkey prepares to host the UN climate summit, and one month after the EU watered down its 2035 ban on new combustion engine cars.
Analysts attribute the boom to a disparity in Turkey’s special consumption tax, which has left electric cars only slightly more expensive than comparable petrol cars.
