Sanyo Electric Company said it has tripled its monthly output capacity for rechargeable nickel-metal hydride  batteries for hybrid vehicles.

It will now be making about 1 million units to supply customers such as Ford and Honda.

Sanyo has made an arrangement with DaimlerChrysler's Mercedes-Benz division have also agreed to develop hybrid batteries.

Sanyo says they expect a tenfold increase in worldwide sales of hybrid batteries by 2010; this translates to about $3.1 billion.

Sanyo competes with Matsushita (Panasonic) in this market.