LS Materials workers are producing ultracapacitors at the company's plant in Gunpo, Gyeonggi Province, Oct. 31. Courtesy of LS C&S

LS Cable & System (LS C&S) is stepping up efforts to expand its new business with its affiliate LS Materials, the company said Monday.

LS Materials is a company specializing in ultracapacitors that began research and development at LS C&S in 2002.

An ultracapacitor is a special industrial battery that has the advantages of fast charging and discharging as well as a long life span. It is used mainly for wind power generators, uninterruptible power supplies, factory automation, automated guided vehicles and electric vehicles.

The company is growing at an annual average of more than 30 percent thanks to its sales surge in exports of ultracapacitors for U.S. wind turbines.

LS C&S is expanding its investment in ultracapacitors as it believes that the market will grow to trillions of won when the use of ultracapacitors is generalized in electric vehicle parts such as emergency power and output assistance devices.

Ultracapacitors play a role in connecting power with a high output at a moment when the energy is about to go out. Their charging and discharging times are also only about one-tenth of the lead storage batteries that are widely in use currently. Ultracapacitors can also be charged and discharged more than 1,000 times compared to lead storage batteries.

Batteries for wind power generators currently need to be replaced every two to three years, but when they are operated on ultracapacitors, they can be used for more than 15 years without interruption.

"The ultracapacitor market is growing at a rapid pace due to the expansion of the special battery potential utility in the field of electric vehicle and wind power industries. Ultracapacitors have a wide range of applications as they can compensate for shortcomings of existing secondary batteries," an LS C&S official said. (Advertorial)