A design proposal for an Electron Beam Ion Source (EBIS) for the ion pre-injector for the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is presented. The LHCEBIS would produce lead ions, as well as lighter ions, that are directly injected into and further accelerated in an RFQ/LINAC arrangement. The source would operate with a repetition rate of 0.8 Hz, and the extracted yield is estimated to1.6⋅109Pb 54+per pulse.Using fast extraction, the extraction time can be less than 10&mgr;s, possibly allowing single-turn injection into the PS Booster. © 2001 American Institute of Physics.