GM chairman Rick Wagoner announced that he expects the company to bring its first lithium-ion battery powered hybrid engine system to market in North America in 2010, the Associated Press reports. This follows an announcement two days ago that Daimler will also be bringing lithium-ion technology to some of its cars for the first time, and an announcement from Toyota several months ago that said the company would soon begin mass production of lithium-ion batteries.

GM claims the new battery will deliver three times the power of current nickel metal-hydride batteries. The report said that automakers and battery companies across the globe have been racing to develop lithium-ion technology, seen by many as the key to mass producing hybrid vehicles powered by conventional and electric motors.

GM did say that even with the new batteries, it would only run on electric-only power for "brief" periods of time. Instead, the company plans to save fuel by implementing an automatic stop-start system. By the end of 2008, GM plans to offer eight hybrid models in North America and nine worldwide—including the Saturn Flextreme concept, pictured above—and introduce a total of 16 new hybrid vehicles over the next four years.