By Kim Yoo-chul

LS Cable & System, the nation’s top wire and cable maker, said Wednesday that it has signed a 70 billion won deal to supply advanced electricity-charging cable sets in China.

In a statement, the company said it agreed with BYD Daimler New Technology (BDNT) to supply electricity-charging wire sets called harnesses over the next five years.

They will be used in 260,000 electric cars produced by BDNT and LS Cable claims the deal was worth about 70 billion won.

BDNT is a 50-50 joint venture between top-tier German automaker Daimler and Chinese battery and car producer BYD.

An LS Cable spokesman said the company was in negotiations with other electric carmakers in China to sell its harnesses and hopes the partnership with BDNT will help the Korean firm expand its client base there.

``The alliance with BDNT will pave the way for the company to effectively bolster our presence in China’s rising electric car-related markets,’’ said the spokesman.

LS Cable has invested 4 billion won to build a new line to produce 150,000 harnesses annually at its existing facilities in Wuxi, Jiangsu Province, China.

A harness is used to supply power and activate and control sensors in cars, which LS Cable officials claim is one of the critical parts impacting the quality of the vehicles.

LS Cable said it has separately developed components including harnesses according to requests from BDNT. The LS Cable-manufactured parts will be used in Denza-branded electric cars.

BDNT’s first Denza-branded model will debut in 2013. ``Denza is on the right track to be the leader in the green vehicle market in China,’’ said Wang Chuanfu, chairman and president of BYD and a member of the BDNT board of directors.

China, the world’s biggest automobile market, plans to become a leader in the new-energy vehicle sector in the next 10 years.

Under the country’s 12th five-year plan (2011-15), the country intends to have an annual production capacity of 1 million new-energy vehicles, with pure-electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles accounting for 50 percent. By 2020, it aims to have annual sales of 5 million new-energy vehicles.

GM and Volkswagen, together with their Chinese partners, also plan to launch electric vehicles in China.