South Korea’s LS Cable & System Ltd. (LS C&S) will expand its electric vehicle (EV) battery component plant in Poland to double the capacity to meet the burgeoning EV demand in Europe that has grown to the world’s second largest EV market after China.

The country’s leading cable maker said it will invest 10 billion won ($8.4 million) plus additional amount to add the second factory in Poland to ramp up output of inter-connection board (ICB), a key component that connects cells in an EV battery pack to supply power, from current 300,000 units of EVs per annum to 600,000.

LS EV Poland, its fully-owned subsidiary in Poland that produces EV battery located in Dzierzoniow, rolls out ICB, and LS Cable spent 20 billion won in 2017 to build the first Polish plant with a floor area of 9,920 square meters on a land of 26,450 square meters.

The company will initially invest 10 billion won to build the second factory with a floor area of 8,000 square meters on a land of 98,000 square meters, three times larger than the current factory land, the company explained. The company will later make undecided amount of investment to set up equipment and machines in the new factory.

An official from the company said the investment is aimed at boosting production to meet the growing demand in the rapidly growing European EV market. Europe is the world’s second biggest EV market following China. According to market researcher SNE Research, EV sales in Europe amounted to 1,218,000 units from January to November last year, up 34 percent from the same period a year ago. The gain was much faster than that of the world`s biggest EV market China.

It also plans to provide the parts to finished carmakers in Europe such as Volvo and Volks Wagen. It currently supplies the products to Korean battery maker LG Chem’s facility in Wroclaw.

LS C&S is nurturing EV related business as its future growth engine. It is seeking to list LS EV Korea, the subsidiary producing high-voltage harness and components for energy storage system, on the Korea’s secondary Kosdaq market. In March last year, it announced that it would produce aluminum materials for EV parts via its aluminum manufacturing subsidiary LS Alsco.

By Noh Hyun and Choi Mira

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