‘My Tesla has become ordinary’: Turkey catches up with EU in electric car sales

Popularity of EVs in country is part of global trend of emerging markets spurning fossil fuel cars at surprising speeds

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hen 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.”