Tesla Motors selects site for electric sedan factory

Tesla Motors, the San Carlos, Calif., company that is marketing a $92,000 battery-powered roadster to boost the visibility of electric vehicles, said it had selected a site in Albuquerque for a factory to build a $50,000 electric passenger sedan.

The company said it would spend $35 million to build a 150,000-square-foot factory that would employ 400 and be capable of producing 10,000 vehicles a year. The first Tesla White Star sedan is due to roll off the line in 2009.

Elon Musk, the founder of PayPal, is Tesla’s chairman and largest investor.

Other backers include Google Inc. founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin.

John O’Dell