Conglomerate Ayala Corp. is committed on investing more to help build the country’s first electric vehicle (EV) ecosystem considered crucial for the consuming public to use EVs in their day-to-day lives.
Jaime Alfonso Zobel de Ayala, CEO of AC Mobility, the Ayala Group’s automotive arm, said the business projects EVs to comprise 20 percent of new car sales by 2030. This is a number the group aims to corner as its share of the market.
“In the short term, our focus is to set up the local EV ecosystem by bringing in a compelling line-up of four-wheel EVs as well as by widening the charging infrastructure, store footprint, and our internal capabilities,” Zobel said.
According to him, the enterprise has engaged institutional partners for the rollout of charging stations, invested USD50 million or P2.75 billion to develop 100 charging stations in 50 locations across the country by the end of the year.
“We believe that more players and more investments are necessary for the public to become comfortable with the availability of charging, and to reach the government’s goal of over 7,000 charging stations by 2030,” Zobel said.
“We recognize that the shift towards clean technology will take time to materialize. Thus, our focus today is to enable that transition,” he said.
ACMobility launched a network of 33 EV charging stations in 16 locations across the country last year.
ACMobility is also the official national distributor of BYD China, the world’s largest manufacturer of plug-in hybrid and pure electric vehicles which has three dealers at the moment but seen counting 20 dealers by yearend.
This week, ACMobility opened a BYD dealership in Cebu, the first outside of Metro Manila.
