Driving from Georgia into Turkey by electric car: what to know first

Updated August 2026

The Turkish charging network at a glance

Turkey has 13,471 public charging stations today, with roughly 36,000 sockets between them, run by 187 operators across all 81 provinces. 7,878 are fast DC, and 3,681 of those deliver 150 kW or more.

These figures come from the official registry of EPDK, the Turkish energy regulator, where every public charger is licensed. EPDK itself counted 45,660 charging points nationwide in the first half of 2026, private sites included, and 15.4 million charging sessions in those six months. Growth is quick: sessions almost doubled year on year.

The comparison with Georgia shows the scale. Georgia has 624 public chargers, Turkey 13,471, about 22 times more. The full list by province is on the Turkey chargers page.

Which border to use

Georgia and Turkey share three land customs crossings: Sarpi, Kartsakhi, and Vale on the Akhaltsikhe to Posof road. For a petrol car the choice depends on where you are going. For an electric one the data answers it.

Sarpi sits on the Black Sea coast and puts you straight onto the road where the Turkish network is densest: from Sarp to Trabzon there are 69 fast chargers within 5 km of the road.

The eastern direction is another picture entirely. Ardahan has 8 chargers, Kars 18, Artvin 30. On the Posof to Erzurum stretch the longest gap between two fast chargers is about 140 km, and it is mountain road, where consumption is higher. That route is drivable, but it takes far more planning.

Which connector you need

Turkey is on the European standard. Fast charging runs on CCS2, present at 7,876 stations. Slow charging is Type 2, at 7,395. CHAdeMO survives on 196 stations, and GB/T on none in the entire country.

That last sentence matters in Georgia, where GB/T is ordinary because Chinese imports arrive with it. If your car has GB/T only, there is nowhere in Turkey to fast charge it. If it has both GB/T and CCS2, you are fine. The guide on Chinese imports and the connector guide go through this in detail.

What charging costs

Turkish operators publish one national tariff each, so a network costs the same everywhere in the country. The median fast DC price is 14.74 lira per kWh, ranging from 8.99 to 15.90. On AC the median is 9.99 lira.

Charging a 60 kWh battery from 20 to 80 percent is 36 kWh, so about 531 lira at the median tariff. 69 percent of stations publish a tariff; for the rest you see the price on site in the operator's app.

How Turkey differs from Georgia

• No live availability. The Turkish registry does not say whether a charger is busy, so for Turkish stations the app shows connector counts and tariffs. In Georgia live status works.
• Many operators. 187 licensed networks, though a few define the market: ZES, Trugo, Eşarj, WAT Mobilite. One app will not cover everything.
• Higher density. The distances between chargers on intercity roads are shorter than in Georgia, especially in the west of the country.
• Tariffs are in lira. The rate moves often, so budget at the rate on the day you travel.

The fines you pay at the border

This is the part drivers from Georgia forget most often. Speed on Turkish roads is enforced by automatic cameras, and the ticket is written against the number plate, Georgian plates included. No notice reaches you.

The fine shows up on the way home. If an unpaid traffic fine, or an unpaid motorway or bridge crossing, sits in the system, customs will not let the car leave the country until it is settled. Payment happens at the gate itself, by card or in cash.

Motorway tolls are a separate system called HGS. Under a regulation published on 29 July 2026, foreign-plated cars are required to be registered in it and to keep a sufficient balance. Pay within 15 days of the crossing and no penalty is added; between 16 and 45 days the toll is doubled by a fine of the same size; after 45 days the penalty is fourfold.

You can check for fines before heading back on the Turkish tax administration site, which has a separate section for foreign-plated vehicles. Camera tickets take a few days to appear, so checking about a week before you leave is the sensible timing.

Where to go for a weekend

Trabzon is about 200 km from Batumi and is the easiest trip out of Georgia in an EV. Trabzon province has 169 chargers, Rize 58. Hotels often have slow Type 2 chargers, which is plenty overnight, while fast charging sits at shopping centres and fuel stations in town.

The same logic scales: Samsun has 185 chargers, Ankara 1,369, İstanbul 2,850. The whole drive to İstanbul has its own guide.

What to do before you leave

• Check the inlet. Whether you have CCS2 is the question that decides the trip. GB/T alone means no fast charging in Turkey.
• Install the operator apps at home. Registering on the road is always harder than doing it in advance.
• Plan each stop with a backup. With no live status visible, a second option for every stop is worth having.
• Allow for winter. Cold weather costs up to a quarter of your range. The winter guide has the detail.
• Last charge in Georgia. Batumi is about 20 km from the border and is well covered with fast chargers.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

1. EPDK, the Turkish energy regulator
2. EPDK figures for the first half of 2026: 45,660 charging points
3. Georgia and Turkey: agreement on the joint land customs crossings
4. The 29 July 2026 regulation on fines and HGS for foreign-plated vehicles
5. Turkish tax administration: fine lookup for foreign plates
6. Published tariffs of Turkish charging operators