The countdown has begun for Turkey’s domestic electric car, Togg. The car, ready for mass production, will be off the band on October 29, Republic Day, and will be sold in the first quarter of next year.
The fact that different body types such as sedan, hatchback and MPV will be produced in the future, including the SUV model that Togg will introduce to the world in October, creates both excitement and question marks in the public.
At the beginning of these question marks are the prevalence of charging station networks, the length of charging times and the cost of electricity consumed during charging.
There are different alternatives for charging electric cars, which a large part of the public is unfamiliar with. Unlike buying fuel for diesel and gasoline cars, there are differences in charging costs depending on where electric cars are charged.
In fact, electric car owners can charge their vehicles at home, workplace or public charging stations, depending on preference and opportunity.
However, let alone the different pricing policies among the charging station operators, the fact that the electricity used at homes and workplaces has different tariffs also causes a difference in the charging cost of the electric car’s battery depending on the location where it is charged.
CHEAPEST AT HOME
The range of electric cars sold in Turkey varies between 250 and 500 kilometers. In other words, electric cars sold in Turkey consume 15-29 kWh of electricity per 100 kilometers.
However, since the amount of electricity consumed in the charging process of each electric vehicle will differ according to the battery characteristics of the car, it is useful to explain the issue through a single vehicle.
If we consider one of the electric cars that fall under the 10 percent SCT in Turkey, the battery of this car has a capacity of 39.2 kWh.
The range value of the same vehicle with a fully charged battery is announced as 305 kilometers.
Considering that a standard vehicle user travels 15 thousand kilometers per year, it can be said that a user with the same profile drives 1,250 kilometers per month.
Therefore, a driver who drives 1,250 kilometers per month will have to fully charge this car at least 4 times.
If this user prefers to charge the car in question from his own home, he will have to pay 2.6 TL for 1 kWh. In other words, the owner of this vehicle, which will consume 156.8 kWh (39.2×4) of electricity for 4 full charges in total, will pay an electricity bill of 408 TL for charging from home.
If the same user charges his vehicle from the workplace, he has to pay 4.5 TL for 1 kWh of electricity according to the current tariff. This shows that if the same vehicle is charged from the workplace, an invoice payment of 698 TL will be made.
As a result, it turns out that charging the electric vehicle from home is close to 300 TL per month compared to the workplace. Let’s say that this difference will become even wider if the battery capacity of the car increases and more roads are made per month.
PRICE VARY DEPENDING ON STATION
At charging stations, however, the calculation becomes more complex.
Recently, many companies in Turkey have obtained licenses to provide charging services to electric cars by establishing a charging network. The prices at the charging stations, on the other hand, are determined by kWh, not by the minute, with the latest change.
If we need to move on from the vehicle we discussed in the above lines, it can be said that a filling process at electric charging stations is more expensive than at home and workplace.
While many charging stations allow charging with normal alternating current (AC) and fast direct current (DC), prices are also more affordable due to the lower energy density in normal AC charging.
In this type of charging process, a monthly charging bill of more than one thousand lira is generated for an electric car that is used for 1,250 kilometers per month.
If fast DC charging is preferred, the monthly bill of charging can exceed 1,500 TL.
WHAT IS THE SITUATION IN FUEL?
While examining the charging costs of electric cars, it is necessary to look at the fuel costs of cars with internal combustion engines.
For example, the gasoline engine version of the electric car, which is the subject of our review, has a 1-liter engine, 120 horsepower and a 50-liter fuel tank. The mixed fuel consumption of this car is explained as 6 liters per 100 kilometers according to the factory data.
The numbers show that this gasoline-powered car can travel more than 800 kilometers on a full tank. Again, assuming that 15 thousand kilometers per year and 250 kilometers per month will be traveled, the owner of this car will need 1.5 tanks per month.
In other words, the owner of this vehicle, which will receive 75 liters of fuel per month, will spend a total of 1,442 TL on fuel, since the liter of unleaded gasoline is 19.23 TL.
The figures show that if electric vehicles are charged using high-speed DC charging, the charging costs are not much different than petrol cars.
This table may vary depending on the fuel consumption of the car with the internal combustion engine to be compared and the battery capacity of the electric car.
Electric cars, which the automotive industry spends billions of dollars on R&D studies, naturally pollute the environment less than cars with internal combustion engines when compared in terms of emissions, but our aim in this article is to draw attention only to costs.
Depending on the battery capacity of electric cars, there are also changes in charging times. Tomorrow, we will discuss this subject in the second part of our article series…