A sign of things to come and the direction of the automotive industry, Sanyo, one of the largest producers of nickel hydride batteries used in hybrid vehicle production, is boosting their production levels by 75 percent.

The bulk of Sanyo’s hybrid vehicle batteries are currently being sold to Honda and Ford and to lesser degree Audi and VW for upcoming hybrid lines.

This is particularly big news for Ford which has had a bottle neck in it’s hybrid production levels due to lack of components like batteries. As Ford starts to focus on smaller more eco-friendly vehicles like the 2010 Ford Fusion Hybrid (pictured above), it will definitely be looking to acquire more batteries.

Sanyo will crank its hybrid battery production up from 2.5 million per month to 3.5 million. It has not yet been announced which companies will get how many of the new Sanyo batteries.