In advance of this fall’s launch of plug-in hybrid and electric vehicles, lithium ion battery manufacturers are breaking ground on manufacturing plants nearly every month.

Nearly $2 billion in stimulus funding has spurred the building of facilities in Michigan and Indiana that will start churning out battery packs by the end of the year, but the escalation in production has the potential to outstrip the demand for the batteries by as early as 2012.

As I said during yesterday’s interview on NPR’s “All Things Considered,” the battery companies have understandable but potentially misguided motivations to quickly ramp up production. For battery companies to receive the full amount of stimulus grants and loans, they must meet specified goals for production capacity.

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Just as your mileage varies by where and how you drive, so might the performance of the Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid’s batteries.

The batteries in the GM vehicle due out in a year (November 2010) will have at least 10 years of life, according to company representatives who briefed the media on Tuesday. But vehicle owners who live in temperate climates are likely to see their batteries last much longer.

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Ford is driving closer to its goal of producing an all-electric car with the announcement of an electric van for North America for 2010. The Ford Transit Connect BEV will incorporate a drivetrain from Azure Dynamics and lithium ion batteries from Johnson Controls-Saft.

The van will get 80 miles before needing to be charged and will be sold into fleets, according to Ford Manager of corporate news Jennifer Moore. She said Ford will produce the van in low volumes and has not announced any customers so far.

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