LS Industrial Systems Co. celebrated the completion of the nation’s first production line dedicated to manufacturing EV Relay, a key component of eco-friendly cars, on Tuesday in Cheongju, North Chungcheong Province.

While three companies ― LSIS, Tyco of the U.S. and Panasonic of Japan ― are dominating the global EV Relay market, the Korean firm is aiming to become the top player with the new facility, officials said.

EV Relay supplies or cuts battery power to electric cars. Amid a promising outlook for green cars, the global EV Relay market is expected to see 26 percent growth annually and 1.7 trillion won ($15 billion) in sales by 2020.

“Even though LSIS is a late comer into the global green car market, when it comes to the EV Relay, we have become one of the global top three players,” LSIS CEO Koo Ja-kyun said in a speech.

“In order to lead the market, the new factory dedicated to the key component will play a pivotal role.”

Koo predicted that with the expansion of the market, the gap between the top three firms and others would widen while the competition among the three gets more severe.

Since starting the construction work in May last year, LSIS has poured 31.4 billion won into building the three-story factory on the 13,680 square-meter site located some 137 kilometers south of Seoul.

Amid surging orders from North America, Europe and Asia, the company said that its EV Relay production capacity will increase from 100,000 units to 1 million per year to 4 million by 2015.

“Since 2010, our technological superiority has been recognized globally, leading to contracts with international car makers,” said a company official, declining to elaborate on their client companies.

Driven by the strong performance in the field, the company said it will meet the goal of securing an accumulated 1 trillion won in green car solution sales by 2013.

“Our smart grid technology also appeals to global firms as individual vehicles would exchange electric information with power networks in the smart grid period,” the official said.

By Lee Ji-yoon (jylee@heraldcorp.com)