LS Cable & System’s Gumi branch in North Gyeongsang Province. (LS Cable & System)
LS Cable & System aims to expand its footprint in the global electric vehicle components market, with high-voltage and lightweight aluminum wires, the company said Wednesday.
According to the cable manufacturing unit of South Korea’s LS Group, the firm is exclusively supplying enamel wires for Hyundai Motor’s first electric vehicle, the Ioniq 5. Coated with advanced insulation material, the wires can cope with up to 800 volts, allowing rapid charging of the vehicle. The Anyang, Gyeonggi Province-based firm is the first Korean company to have begun mass production of such high voltage wires, it said.
LS Cable & System has been supplying wires with capacity of nearly 400 volts to GM’s Chevrolet Bolt EV since 2016. The two are in talks for the supply of higher voltage wires.
The wire supplier is also developing lighter wire products for electric vehicles. Using aluminum instead of copper, the firm has managed to cut the weight of wires by more than 40 percent from 25 kilograms per vehicle to 15 kilograms.
The company expects aluminum conductor wires to take up about 30 percent of the electric vehicle wire market, up from 5 percent in 2020 and plans to bolster investment in the segment.
The firm established the aluminum wire supply chain and began its mass production last year. It is now supplying the products to Japan.
The firm has seen a drastic improvement in business performance in the first quarter of this year, driven by thriving domestic and global businesses.
Sales increased by 15.6 percent on-year to 1,336 billion won ($1.22 billion). Operating profit surged by 29.8 percent to 53.1 billion won.
By Byun Hye-jin (
hyejin2@heraldcorp.com)