Johnson Controls, Inc., a Fortune 500 company based in Milwaukee, Wis., specializes in products and services for optimizing energy and operational efficiencies in buildings, automotive batteries, electronics, and interior systems for automobiles. The company's multi-million-dollar research investment at UW–Madison funds the Johnson Controls Energy Storage Research Lab at WEI, where energy researchers test, evaluate, and optimize how battery systems perform and interact with a vehicle's powertrain and electrical architecture.

Along with WEI and the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee, Johnson Controls also supports the endowed professorship of Dr. Deyang Qu, an expert in energy storage systems for electric vehicles and smart-grid technology.