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SANTA FE — A California electric carmaker has chosen Albuquerque as the site for a manufacturing plant to employ around 400 workers, Gov. Bill Richardson said this morning.

Tesla Motors of San Carlos, Calif., will break ground in April on a 150,000-square-foot plant on Albuquerque's West Side - near the recently-opened Tempur-Pedic mattress plant, Richardson announced this morning.

"Today's announcement is proof that New Mexico is a national leader when it comes to innovation, new technology and creating jobs," Richardson said in a statement. "Tesla is committed to clean energy and so is New Mexico."

By 2009, Tesla plans to roll-out a four-door, five-person sedan called "WhiteStar," producing at least 10,000 a year from the West Side plant. The car will be operated entirely by electricity and is projected to run for 250 miles per charge. Its 250 horsepower engine is capable of reaching 0-60 mph in six seconds.

WhiteStar is expected to cost $50,000 for a standard model and $65,000 for a model with greater performance and range.

The company is investing $35 million in the production facility. The jobs created in Albuquerque are projected to pay between $24,000 and $100,000 a year, plus benefits and stock options, according to a state news release.

Tesla had talked with several states, including Arizona and its home state of California, about where to locate its WhiteStar plant. Published reports out of California earlier this month indicated the company had narrowed its choices to Albuquerque and the Bay Area city of Pittsburg, Calif.

Martin Eberhard, the company's CEO and founder, today said New Mexico "was very responsive, helping us solve work force and logistical challenges."

"We wanted to be in a state that is as committed as Tesla is to developing clean energy and addressing global climate change," Elon Musk, Tesla's chairman and a a co-founder of the PayPal Internet payment site, said in a statement. "We found that leadership in New Mexico."

Richardson committed to seeking $3.5 million in capital outlay money from the current Legislature and another $3.5 million next year. The money would be given to Bernalillo County as building and infrastructure investment.

Richardson also wants state agencies to investigate buying 100 WhiteStar vehicles for the state fleet over a two-year period.

The city has pledged $600,000 for infrastructure costs. And SunCal Companies, the firm that recently purchased the 57,000-acre Westland Development property on the West Side, will provide 75 acres of land abutting the plant's site for a future expansion, the state said in a news release.

Tesla, founded in 2003, is expected to begin delivery of its first vehicle, the Tesla Roadster, this summer. The Roadster, being assembled in England, can run from 0-60 mph in four seconds and is powered by a lithium-ion battery system, the company Web site states.