Tesla wanted news of its partnership with Daimler to build the batteries and battery chargers for the electric-powered Smart (1,000 of the cars, to start) to be the big announcement at the Detroit Auto Show this year. But for some reason it just wasn’t what people wanted to hear. After an intrepid journalist quickly cleared up that Daimler, in fact, has multiple contractors supplying batteries for the smart, attention turned immediately to production schedule: When are we going to see the roadsters hit the streets?

They already have, according to Tesla, which says it’s producing 15 cars a week, and hopes to double that to around 30 a week this spring. The company said the roadster is sold out through November, and that it anticipates turning a profit sometime in mid-2009.

As for the new roadster, the Roadster Sport, is said to go from zero to 60 mph in 3.7 seconds.

If you haven’t already spat your soda all over the keyboard, you’ll be pleased to know that the company intends to produce 20,000 of its upcoming “Model S” sedans annually by 2011. The sedan will be unveiled at the end of February at $49,900 (after a $7,500 tax credit).

But where oh where is this money still coming from? Tesla claimed that some 70 percent of funding for the sedan will come from loans guaranteed by the Department of Energy, totaling some $700 million. In the same breath, company CEO Elon Musk announced to nobody in particular that Tesla was still looking for development partners, like in the Daimler gig. The lesson here? Talk is cheap.