Hitachi Ltd. (6501.TO) said Tuesday that it aims to grab 30% of the market for lithium-ion batteries used for automobiles by the fiscal year starting April 2015 in a move to cash in on a growing trend for environmentally friendly vehicles.

This sales goal, which Hitachi values at Y100 billion, will in part be achieved by sales of batteries to General Motors Corp. (GM) starting 2010, the company hopes.

Taiji Hasegawa, Hitachi's senior vice president, said that despite the problems facing GM, he still expects the U.S. automaker to increase development of ecological vehicles using lithium-ion batteries, such as a hybrid model powered by an electric motor and a gasoline engine.

Hasegawa said he expects Hitachi to sell its batteries to "as many automakers as possible," but he added that the company wouldn't rule out the possibility of exploring a joint venture with an automaker if approached.

Hitachi's push into the auto-battery business comes after the electrical conglomerate reported last week its biggest annual net loss in its history in the fiscal year through March 31, and that it expects another year of losses this fiscal year.

As part of its restructuring to weather the downturn, it has already announced that it will split off its struggling consumer and automotive-related operations into subsidiaries in July.

The lithium-ion battery is emerging as a successor to nickel metal hydride battery in vehicles, as it has a higher energy storage capacity for its size.

Sanyo Electric Co., which has agreed to be taken over by Panasonic Corp., and Toshiba Corp., suffering huge losses in its chip operations, are also placing big bets on lithium-ion batteries.

-By Yuzo Yamaguchi, Dow Jones Newswires, +813 6895 7563; yuzo.yamaguchi@dowjones.com