UPDATE 1-Hitachi to lift lithium-ion battery output-Nikkei

* To lift lithium-ion battery output 70-fold by 2015 - Nikkei

* Plans largest production boost but timing undecided

* Hitachi shares hit 2-week high in early trade

(Adds company comment)

TOKYO, July 2 (Reuters) - Hitachi Ltd (6501.T) plans to spend 20-30 billion yen ($207-310 million) to boost output capacity for lithium-ion batteries for hybrid cars 70-fold by 2015, the Nikkei business daily said on Thursday.

The news boosted Hitachi shares as much as 4.4 percent in early trade to a two-week high of 311 yen.

Rival makers are ramping up production of lithium-ion batteries to tap growing popularity of gas-electric hybrid vehicles.

Hitachi, Japan's biggest industrial electronics group, is scheduled to supply batteries for hybrid cars to be released by General Motors GMGMQ.PK around 2010.

A Hitachi spokeswoman said the company is planning to raise its annual output capacity of lithium-ion batteries to 3 million cells from the current 40,000, but the specific timing has not been decided.

The Nikkei said the output raise is worth powering about 700,000 vehicles, adding that a hybrid vehicle is generally powered by 30-50 lithium-ion batteries.

The company has said it aims to generate lithium-ion battery sales of 100 billion yen in the year ending March 2016. It has also said it would raise the output by nearly eight-fold to 300,000 cells this autumn. ($1=96.81 Yen) (Reporting by Taiga Uranaka; Editing by Dhara Ranasinghe)