South Korea’s leading cable maker LS Cable & System Ltd. will establish an electric vehicle (EV) battery components manufacturing base ‘LS EV Poland’ in Dzierżoniów industrial zone in southwestern Poland to gear up for the fast growing global EV market, the company said on Thursday.

LS EV Poland would become LS Cable & System’s seventh overseas manufacturing base following plants in the United States, China, Vietnam, and India.

The company recently purchased a new factory with a total floor area of 9,920 square meters in the Dzierżoniów special economic zone in southwestern Poland and began adding manufacturing facilities with an aim to start commercial production in 2019. The new plant would be capable of producing EV battery parts that can power nearly 200,000 electric vehicles annually, according to LS Cable & System.

It has invested a total of 20 billion won ($18 million) for the new plant and plans to supply EV battery parts to LG Chem Ltd., Korea`s leading EV battery maker, as well as European automakers in the region. LG Chem is currently constructing an EV battery plant in Wroclaw, nearby the Dzierżoniów industrial zone with completion set for the end of next year.

It decided to set up a manufacturing base in Poland to ride on the burgeoning EV battery demand in Europe where the shift to cleaner fuel vehicles is amongst the fastest in the world.

LS Group has been eagerly expanding its businesses in automotive electronics components and EV batteries. It recently established LS EV Korea by spinning out electric car unit from LS Cable & System and plans to set up a holding entity devoted to the electric vehicle (EV) components business.

LS Cable & System’s new EV battery plant in Poland will serve as the stepping stone for the company’s expansion out to Europe, said Myung Roe-hyun, chief executive of LS C&S. The company is also mulling making optical fiber cable and electric cable investments in Europe, said Myung.

By Kim Jung-hwan and Cho Jeehyun

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