Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood tours the construction site for Nissan Automotive's $1.7 billion Electric Vehicle battery plant in Smyrna, Tenn., May 17, 2011. The plant, which has been funded in part by a loan from the U.S. Department of Energy as part of the Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing Loan Program, is being constructed next to a facility that will produce the Nissan Leaf EV. (Official White House Photo by Lawrence Jackson)