ACMobility has opened a new electric vehicle charging station in Lucena City, a welcome stop for EV owners on the long drive between Manila, South Luzon and Bicol.

The site sits inside PTT Lucena, right across the Lucena City Government Complex. It is now one of the key links along the southern stretch of Luzon, turning what used to be a stressful 450 to 500-kilometer trip to Bicol into a more manageable route for EV drivers.

For years, motorists who wanted to take their EVs from Metro Manila to Bicol had to plan their trips very carefully because of the limited charging options outside the capital. The Lucena station is meant to ease that worry by serving as a gateway stop on the way south.

Nearby restaurants and convenience stores also make it a practical rest point for families and long-distance drivers breaking up their journey.

The new hub is fitted with a 120 kW DC fast charger with two charge points for quick top-ups and a 22 kW AC charger with one charge point for regular charging needs.

Capacity in the city is set to grow further with two additional AC chargers to be installed at the Giant Lucena station along Evo Tourism Road, expanding access for residents, visitors, and future EV users in the area.

All chargers are integrated with the Evro app, which allows users to find stations, check if a charger is free, start a session, and pay through their phones.

The system is designed so EV owners can plan their trips ahead instead of worrying about where to plug in once the battery starts to drop.

The Lucena station is also being positioned for the next wave of e-mobility. The site can support future electrified public transport such as e-jeepneys and fleet vehicles, as well as possible LGU-led projects once these start rolling out in the city.

Its location close to the New Lucena City Hall also gives the local government an accessible charging hub that can work with upcoming transport programs centered on cleaner and more efficient mobility. Officials see the site as one of the building blocks for long-term sustainability plans.

“We are building up Lucena City as a gateway location for wider interregional mobility in the country,” Mark Alcala, Lucena City mayor, said.

“With this new charging infrastructure built at the heart of Lucena, we are enabling more EV owners to travel confidently from South Luzon all the way to Bicol, helping build a more sustainable and connected transport ecosystem.”

City hall is also studying the possibility of putting up more charging stations on LGU-owned properties around Lucena. Making chargers available in public spaces is expected to help more people shift to EVs and slowly move the community toward a lower-emission transport system.

The Lucena EV charging station is part of ACMobility’s wider rollout of what it calls the Philippine EV Spine, a growing network of chargers that links major cities, highways, transport hubs, and popular destinations across the country.

“Every new station means more freedom for EV drivers to go farther and explore more. We want Filipinos to enjoy the journey as much as the destination, with the confidence that they can charge reliably along the way, anywhere in the country,” Carla Buencamino, head of Mobility Infrastructure at ACMobility, said.

ACMobility, the mobility arm of the Ayala Group, handles several dealer networks and brands in the country and has been investing in EV charging since 2023 as part of its push to support the shift to electrified transport.

Evro, its technology partner for charging, provides the software platform and app that connects EV owners to stations nationwide.