TruKKer: Istanbul is the number one source of carbon emissions in Turkey

TruKKer, the pioneer of the sector as the region’s largest road transportation platform in the Middle East and Central Asian markets, is accelerating its sustainability moves. TruKKer Executive Board Member – Europe & CIS General Manager Hakan Arıkan pointed out that the electric vehicles that are being developed in this way should now be included in the logistics processes and that it will be possible to provide both more environmentally friendly and more economical transportation with this move. “When we talk about carbon emissions and road transportation, road transport causes 10% of all emissions, and logistics causes 75% of it. Therefore, almost 7.5% of the total is based on road transport. That’s why we need to take more dramatic measures. Electric vehicles are also an important part of this. We need to eliminate the damage caused to the environment by trucks, trucks and large vehicles. The critical point here is to be able to carry out the electrical conversion and even the hydrogen conversion in commercial vehicles. In this journey, we need to focus on urban delivery transportation in the first phase. He stated that just converting delivery vehicles in Istanbul to electric would positively affect carbon emissions.

“Environmental regulations in the logistics sector should start with urban transportation”

Pointing out that 40 percent of consumption in Turkey is made in Istanbul and that Istanbul is the number one source of carbon emissions in short-distance delivery transportation, Arıkan said; “Just converting the vehicles that courier drivers make home deliveries in Istanbul to electric would have a huge impact on carbon emissions. Even if we focus on converting personnel shuttles or public transportation vehicles to electric, we can reach a very good point. For this reason, we aim to make Istanbul the second pilot area after Dubai. For this, consortiums that will bring together the production, energy and logistics sides need to be established. We must target where Istanbul’s carbon emissions will reach over the years and proceed accordingly. “We need to make good use of the opportunity in the city because electric vehicles in this region do not travel more than 250 kilometers per day on average, so there is no range problem, the charging station is sufficient for this distance,” he said.

Pilot studies will begin in the consumption and e-commerce sectors

Stating that they are following investment opportunities in this regard in Turkey and aiming to play a leading role in this regard, Arıkan said, “Reducing the carbon footprint is our priority in everything we do. However, since we use vehicles weighing 20 tons and above, unfortunately, we do not currently prioritize reducing the carbon footprint here. Working in an area of 4 tons, we work with the responsibility of making transformation possible. We want to make sure that the solution we have in mind will actually be beneficial in terms of sustainability. We will start to announce our investments in electric vehicles within the next year. We aim to transform our own software and business model. This will be a very important step for the development of green transformation in the sector. We aim to realize our transformation move by creating a separate brand. At this point, we need the contribution of manufacturers on the vehicle side and state support on the station side. At this stage, we are in negotiations with domestic and foreign battery manufacturers. We want to develop a system where electric vehicles can meet cargo owners. “In the first phase, we will conduct a pilot study on short-range electric vehicles, less than 4 tons, which operate mainly in the fast-moving consumption and e-commerce sectors, rather than long-range, because initiating change in urban transportation is much more feasible in the first phase,” he said.

“The logistics sector is just the visible face of carbon emissions”

Stating that carbon emissions do not end only with production and that green transformation is required in all transportation, shelving and supply chain processes, Arıkan stated that all players should take responsibility for the organization of a sustainable structure. Arıkan continued his words as follows: “A structure is required where all players of the ecosystem believe in transformation. This process is a chain that must be followed until what the consumer does with the packaging after consumption. As TruKKer, we are preparing an important report in which we investigate our goals in this regard and where we are now. On the feasibility side, we also calculate the dollar return and carbon emission equivalent. “The resulting results update the steps we take moment by moment.”