In our special file, which we prepared with the aim of answering all the questions about electric cars, today we will examine how far these vehicles can travel with a fully charged battery and how many hours they can complete intercity journeys.
In our series of articles that we have been continuing since the beginning of the week, we focused on the charging costs and charging times of electric vehicles through one of the best-selling electric cars in Turkey.
This car, which is in the 10 percent SCT segment and therefore one of the most accessible models among its competitors, has a battery capacity of 39.2 kWh and can travel 305 kilometers with a fully charged battery.
While this range value will be sufficient for daily use in the city, it may cause a loss of time on intercity roads compared to the distance to be traveled.
ISTANBUL-IZMIR 6 HOURS
To explain this situation through different examples, for example, a user who takes Istanbul Taksim Square as the starting point with this car, wants to go to Izmir Konak Square, and has to travel 477 kilometers as soon as possible.
This vehicle, which will have to recharge at least once along this route, can cross the Osmangazi bridge and travel 275 kilometers over the Istanbul-Izmir highway, and reach the charging station in Balikesir on the Istanbul-Izmir highway in a total of 3 hours.
Here, with the DC 50 kW fast charging unit, it is possible to charge the battery of this car, which is just under 10 percent, to 80 percent in about 1 hour if there is no queue. After this process, the remaining 200 kilometers to Izmir Konak Square can be reached in 2 hours.
In summary, it is possible to travel between Istanbul and Izmir in 6 hours with this electric vehicle, if it is not expected during charging.
If you want to go to Çeşme, the popular holiday resort of İzmir, the charging process in Balıkesir will not be sufficient since 77 kilometers more will be traveled. Because the battery, which was filled up to 80 percent, gave the vehicle a range of 240 kilometers.
Assuming that we charge the battery again with DC 50 kW fast charging in İzmir, this time instead of 80 percent, which is enough for Cesme with a range of 80 kilometers, roughly 30 percent is needed. After reaching 30 percent of the battery with an average charging time of 20 minutes in İzmir, you can go to Çeşme without being on the road.
In other words, it will be possible to travel between Istanbul and Çeşme in 7 hours and 50 minutes by taking only two charging breaks with this car.
ISTANBUL-ANKARA 5 HOURS 20 MINUTES
In order to understand what the range values of electric cars tell in daily life, it is useful to do this example for other cities.
Let’s assume that we want to drive the same electric car from Istanbul Taksim Square to the capital Ankara Güvenpark this time.
If we start the 440-kilometer road with a fully charged battery, the charging station in the parking lot of a shopping mall in Bolu can be easily reached after a 240-kilometer journey on the Anatolian Highway, which takes 2 hours and 40 minutes.
Here, after charging the battery with a 20 percent charge rate to 60 percent in 30 minutes with DC fast charging, more than 10 percent of the battery will still be charged after the 200 kilometer road to Ankara is taken uninterruptedly in 2 hours and 10 minutes. .
As can be seen, it is possible to travel between Istanbul and Ankara in 5 hours and 20 minutes with an electric vehicle with a battery capacity of 39.2 kWh, with one charging break on the way.
ISTANBUL-SIVAS ABOUT 12 HOURS
According to the data of the Turkish Statistical Institute (TUIK), Sivas is the province with the highest number of people registered in Istanbul, apart from Istanbul residents. Based on this, it is also useful to examine how many hours it will take to go from Istanbul to Sivas in an electric vehicle.
The part of the 876-kilometer road from Istanbul to Sivas city center to Ankara is similar to the one we described in the above lines. Therefore, we can continue on the Ankara-Sivas route of the road, based on the example we examined on the Istanbul-Ankara journey by electric car.
On the journey from Istanbul to Ankara by electric vehicle, we mentioned that the battery of the vehicle was 10 percent full when arriving in Ankara. When the battery is filled to 80 percent level in Ankara in 50 minutes, the remaining 430 kilometers can go to Sivas.
Considering that the range of the vehicle’s battery is 240 kilometers at 80 percent full, on this journey, it will be necessary to take a charging break at a shopping mall in Yozgat at the 206th kilometer of the Ankara-Sivas road.
After this 2-hour journey, it will be necessary to charge the battery up to at least 80 percent in Yozgat, as the battery drops to 10 percent and the remaining road is 223 kilometers. After this process, which takes roughly 50 minutes, the remaining 223 kilometers to Sivas can be taken in 2 hours and 40 minutes without interruption.
In other words, it is possible to reach Sivas center from Istanbul in 11 hours and 40 minutes with a total of 3 charging stops.
ISTANBUL-ANTALYA 10 HOURS 30 MINUTES
To give an example for Antalya, the tourism capital of Turkey, it is possible to reach Kütahya by leaving Istanbul Taksim square with full battery, crossing the Osmangazi Bridge, and traversing the 248-kilometer road in 2 hours and 50 minutes at a constant speed.
Here, when the battery capacity of the vehicle will be around 15 percent, if you charge the battery up to 80 percent in 45 minutes with DC fast charging and set off for Antalya, after 2 hours and 30 minutes, after 210 kilometers, a 10 percent full battery will be returned to the charging station in Afyonkarahisar Sandıklı. can be reached with
After charging the vehicle up to 80 percent for 50 minutes, the distance to Antalya Konyaaltı beach is 235 kilometers. When it would be risky to go this distance with an 80 percent full battery, it would be useful to take another charging break in Isparta after 1 hour and 20 minutes at the 112th kilometer of the road.
Here, after charging the 40 percent full battery up to 80 percent in 30 minutes, the remaining 135 kilometers to Antalya can be completed in about 2 hours.
As a result, a total of 705 kilometers of journey from Istanbul Taksim square to Antalya Konyaaltı beach can be completed in 10 hours and 30 minutes with 3 charging stops by electric car.
THE CHARGING GOES FASTER AS SPEED
The point to be considered in all these examples is not to exceed an average speed of 100 kilometers per hour during the journey.
When this limit, which is the optimum speed value for an electric car, is exceeded, it will be necessary to take more charging breaks between cities as electricity consumption will increase.
Therefore, completing high-speed kilometers in a shorter time will not save time, contrary to popular belief.
In addition, it should be known that when the same roads are built with an electric car with a higher battery capacity than the car in our review, both the charging times and the range values will change.
Before going on a long journey with an electric car, it will be useful to look at the map of the subscribed station network in order not to stay on the road.
10 PERCENT IN EUROPE, 1 PERCENT IN TURKEY
Turkey has not yet been able to catch up with Europe in terms of electric vehicles in terms of sales figures and production volume.
In the January-August period, only 3,283 of the 458 thousand cars sold in Turkey were electric vehicles. Although the sales of electric vehicles increased 3 times compared to the same period of the previous year, the market share of these cars is still below 1 percent.
In Europe, which is the biggest export market of the Turkish automotive industry and where automobiles sold in Turkey are subject to homologation, electric cars that operate with 100% electricity take a 10 percent share of the market.
The resulting table shows that Turkish users keep their distance from electric vehicles for various reasons when compared to European users.
Judging by the researches, the first issue that raises concerns about electric vehicles for consumers in Turkey stands out as charging infrastructure. According to Castrol’s research, 70 percent of non-EV drivers believe that charging infrastructure is not widespread enough.
The lack of electric model options in the market and the lack of government incentives are among the main reasons for the cautious focus on electric cars, according to the research.
According to the same report, 49 percent of consumers in Turkey participating in the survey want their next vehicle to be electric.
The fact that Turkey is ahead of France, Australia, New Zealand, USA, India and Germany in this ratio reveals that electric car sales can increase significantly if conditions meet the expectations of the consumer.
Considering that there are only a few days left for the domestic car to descend on the bands, it can be said that there is not much time left for the lawmakers and the Turkish automotive/supply industry to take serious steps on electric vehicles.
Otherwise, the Turkish market may face the risk of falling behind from Europe, which has begun to ‘electrify’. Such a situation may put Togg’s future in trouble.
As a final footnote, the number of electric vehicle charging stations, which was 3,500 in March, increased to 11 thousand in September, including both public and private use, according to the Turkish Electric and Hybrid Vehicles Association (TEHAD) data. Considering that there are around 7 thousand electric vehicles on the roads of Turkey and the sales of these vehicles have increased 3 times in the last 1 year, it is seen that there is a need for a rapid increase in the number of charging stations.