He noted that engineers and scientists at the company's joint venture — Johnson Controls-Saft Advanced Power Solutions (JCS) — are gearing up to supply lithium-ion batteries for tomorrow's hybrid-electric vehicles (HEVs), plug-in hybrid-electric vehicles (PHEVs) and electric vehicles (EVs). In January 2007, JCS was awarded a development contract from General Motors to design and test lithium-ion batteries for use in the Saturn Vue Green Line plug-in hybrid sport-utility vehicle (SUV). The company also recently signed a letter-of-intent with a major automaker for the development of lithium-ion batteries for a hybrid vehicle application. Molinaroli said Johnson Controls also appreciated the research and development support from the U.S. Department of Energy, and the United States Advanced Battery Consortium which is part of the United States Council on Automotive Research.