When it comes to the development of electric vehicle (EV) automotive parts, LSIS is a latecomer. It was in 1993 that the company launched the study of EV components by participating in a state-funded G7 EV components project. 

Until a few years ago, the global EV relay market was dominated by such global players as Panasonic of Japan, Tyco of the United States, and OMRON of Japan. Panasonic, a market leader, supplies relays for Toyota’s Prius hybrid electric vehicle (HEV), as well as Honda, Nissan, and other Japanese HEV makers. Tyco, which has a diverse product portfolio, is the relay supplier of global EV developers. OMRON supplies relays to Mitsubishi. 

In contrast, LSIS is a latecomer who embarked on the development of relays more than 10 years later than Panasonic. But the Korean company already had a 30-year track record of experience and expertise in producing relays for industrial use.

The EV relay is a component needed to supply electric energy to the battery in the power train for driving an electric car or to safely cut off power. Thus, it essentially requires high-voltage and high current-resistance durability, and it must be a lightweight and low-noise technology. LSIS has strengths in the circuit breaker segment for the existing electric devices and systems. 

Recognizing LSIS’s prowess and achievements in the electrical systems segment, Hyundai Motor Co. proposed that LSIS develop HEV high-voltage relays in 2005. In response, LSIS inaugurated the EV component business division and began product development in 2007.

The company was initially faced with many hardships such as lofty entry barriers, quality standards, and systems. 

LSIS turned to a strategy of securing standards through technology development to tide over these problems in a short period of time. Automakers launch a new car according to a development project detailing all new things ranging from exterior to parts, so automotive parts makers are required to produce components in accordance with new standards set by automakers. LSIS, targeting standards higher than automakers’ requirements, established the “Global Automotive Process” for one year from January 2010 and secured the Advanced Production Quality Planning and TS16949 standards. LSIS earned a higher grade than other parts maker according to the outcomes of automakers’ site inspections.

Even though LSIS succeeded in developing products, the company was still dogged by the quality gap between automotive parts and industrial components. The problem is that there are higher quality standards for EV components than for their industrial counterparts. LSIS focused on enhancing the quality of EV components in a short period of time, as was the case in securing standards, and finally succeeded after undergoing repeated trials and errors.   

As a result, LSIS became the relay provider for Hyundai Motor’s YF Sonata HEV in 2008. The company has established itself as an EV relay leader in Korea and won contracts to supply relays to Hyundai Motor’s EV Blue-on and Kia Motors’ Corp.’s Ray.

LSIS, recognized for its price competitiveness and technological prowess, acquired by making the most of its solid presence in the domestic EV relay market, has begun to attract attention from global automakers.  

On the back of the technologies it has acquired in the EV relay and industrial inverter segments, LSIS has built up a solid product portfolio in the electronic parts area, including the development and commercialization of new products such as BDUs (Battery Disconnect Unit) and other power control green-car components, the electrical-electronic product group comprising PCUs (Power Control Unit), and OBCs (On-Board Charger), and expanded its business environs to include charging infrastructure such as slow-speed charging stands.

LSIS has evolved into a global top three company in the EV relay segment, just behind Panasonic and Tyco, by grafting its capabilities in the conventional electrical power segments into green business areas.

With the recent completion of the Cheongju EV-Relay plant, LSIS aims at chalking up 1 trillion won in accumulative sales by the end of next year and the company is likely to rise to a global leader in the EV automotive component segment down the road.