Türkiye has become Europe's fourth-largest market for fully electric vehicles, with around 190,000 battery-powered cars sold in 2025, according to a new analysis released on Wednesday.
Battery electric vehicles (BEVs) accounted for around 17% of new passenger car sales in Türkiye last year, bringing the country in line for the first time with the European Union average, the London-based energy think tank Ember said.
The share had been about 10% in 2024, when around 104,000 BEVs were sold. In the European Union, the share of electric vehicles in car sales rose from 14% in 2024 to 17% last year.
With sales rising 80% year-over-year in 2025, Türkiye moved up from ninth place in 2023 to overtake established markets such as Norway, the Netherlands and Belgium. It now trails only Germany, the United Kingdom and France in Europe.
Electric car sales first began to accelerate in 2023. While only 8,312 BEVs were sold in Türkiye in 2022 and their share in new car sales was 1.5%, sales exceeded 65,000 in 2023, lifting their share to 6.9%.
The rapid rise was attributed to two main factors: the launch of new models, including Togg, the domestically produced electric vehicle brand, and manufacturers' adaptation to Türkiye's car tax structure.
The growing interest in electric and hybrid vehicles has reduced sales of fossil fuel cars.
Gasoline car sales in Türkiye peaked at 635,000 units in 2023 and fell to 520,000 in 2025. Similarly, diesel car sales dropped from 154,000 in 2023 to 95,000 in 2025.
Despite the strong growth, electric cars account for only about 2% of vehicles registered in traffic in Türkiye, and gasoline consumption is still increasing, Ember said.
"Although interest in electric vehicles has grown in recent years and sales of fossil fuel cars have begun to decline, the vast majority of vehicles on the road still use fossil fuels," the report said.
Between January and November last year, gasoline consumption rose about 16% year-over-year, while crude oil imports increased 5.3%, it added.
Ember described electrification of transport to be critical as renewables gain a larger share in power generation, noting that Türkiye currently has no fossil-fuel power plants under construction, while all new capacity commissioned in 2025 came from renewable sources.
Türkiye plans to triple its wind and solar capacity, which has reached 40 gigawatts (GW), by 2035, which Ember says would enable rising electricity demand to be met with domestic and clean energy sources.
"Therefore, the transition to electric vehicles in transport will also strengthen Türkiye's energy independence," the report said.
Ember stressed what it says is still Türkiye's "very high" potential to reduce energy imports. And achieving this, it says, will be possible by developing more favorable taxation systems for electric vehicles.
Although the tax rates applied to electric cars that meet certain criteria are lower than those for other electric vehicles, the overall tax burden remains high, Ember said.
The total tax applied to electric cars in the lowest tax bracket reaches 50% when value-added tax (VAT) is included. For vehicles that move into the higher tax bracket due to price, despite having low engine power, the total tax rate rises to 86%.
"As exchange rates increase, more electric vehicles fall into higher tax brackets, while the number of affordable and high-performance electric car options in the market is declining," the report said.
In addition, Türkiye applies high additional tariffs on all imported cars from countries with which it does not have free trade agreements, such as China.
"Although electric cars have started to become widespread in Türkiye, there is still a large, untapped potential to reduce energy imports through renewable energy and electric vehicles," said Ufuk Alparslan, Ember's regional lead for Türkiye and the Caucasus.
"Tax policies that keep electric vehicle prices at more affordable levels could accelerate this momentum," Alparslan added.
