DEARBORN, Mich. Ford Motor Co. said yesterday that its future electric cars will “talk” to power grids across the country, part of an effort to drive interest in alternative energy vehicles. The nation’s second-largest automaker released details of a two-year collaboration with about a dozen utility companies as well as the U.S. Department of Energy on the design of a system that allows car owners to control when they charge vehicles and for how long.

After a lot of heartbreak, the nation’s automakers aren’t looking to commit. They’re taking small, tentative steps to raise production to meet the revived demand for new cars and trucks sparked by the Cash for Clunkers program. Carmakers are offering overtime or Saturday shifts at slack plants, but they aren’t willing to go as far as opening shuttered factories, concerned that demand may ebb when the program ends.

Helped by a lightened debt load, Ford Motor Co. posted a surprise second-quarter profit of $2.3 billion yesterday, following the worst loss in company history a year earlier.

After a yearlong free fall in the American car market, the decline of sales slowed in June, offering hope to automakers that the bottom has been reached and that shoppers may slowly start returning to showrooms soon. Still, sales were down 7.1 percent from May, which generally is a stronger sales month. Overall, automakers sold 859,847 vehicles in June, a 28 percent drop from the same month last year, according to Autodata Corp.

Billy McGuire and a couple of Richmond-area buddies plan to see America the old-fashioned way this summer: puttering along back roads in their Model T Fords. McGuire and the others, accompanied by their wives and their toolboxes, left yesterday from White Plains, N.Y., as part of an event commemorating the 100th anniversary of the Ocean to Ocean Endurance Race that changed automotive history. They are scheduled to arrive in Seattle on July 12.

The 1913 Model T Ford in Dennis Fleming’s garage looks like it rolled right off its famed creator’s assembly line. Fleming’s collectible car sports the black metal chassis, wood-spoke wheels and hand-crank starter typical of Model Ts, which Ford sold to Americans at historically affordable rates from 1909 to 1927. “Every day, I do some work on it,“ Fleming said. “Mechanically, I maintain the car in tip-top shape.“

The House yesterday approved a “cash for clunkers” bill that aims to boost new auto sales by allowing consumers to turn in their gas-guzzling cars and trucks for vouchers worth up to $4,500 toward more fuel-efficient vehicles. President Barack Obama has encouraged Congress to approve consumer incentives for new-car purchases as part of the government’s work to restructure General Motors and Chrysler. The House approved the bill 298-119.

Americans bought more cars in May than in any other month this year, drawn by fire-sale prices that pushed General Motors and Chrysler’s sales above expectations despite their forays into bankruptcy protection. Overall sales were still 34 percent lower than a year ago. But low gas prices encouraged the sale of bigger gas guzzlers while small cars stacked up on dealer lots. That could be a problem for the Obama administration, if the demand for more fuel-efficient vehicles drops just as it is forcing the U.S. auto industry to produce more of them.

WAYNE, Michigan — Ford Motor Co. says it will spend $550 million to convert its old Michigan Truck Plant into a facility that will build small compact modern cars.

Detroit’s Big Three is becoming Ford and the other two. While its rivals stay afloat with billions in government aid, Ford grabbed a bigger slice of the American car market in April with record sales of its fuel-efficient Fusion. Those results pushed it past Toyota to retake its post as the nation’s No. 2 car seller. Even though Ford’s monthly sales tumbled 32 percent from a year earlier, it captured 16 percent of the total market. Most of those gains came at the expense of General Motors and Chrysler, which unlike Ford are dependent on federal help.

A better-than-expected earnings report from Ford raised hopes yesterday that the automaker’s restructuring and new products may be enough to spare it from a federal bailout. Meanwhile, General Motors received more government help and Chrysler raced to avoid bankruptcy. Ford Motor Co. still lost $1.4 billion from January through March, but that was less than expected, and executives said its sales outlook was good enough to increase production of its most popular vehicles.

3M Co.‘s quarterly profit dropped 48 percent as the global economic slowdown hurt its sales in everything from health care to office supplies, prompting the company to lower its 2009 outlook again. 3M, known for its Post-it notes and Scotch tape, reported net income of $518 million, or 74 cents per share, for the three-month period ended March 31. That fell from $988 million, or $1.38 per share, a year earlier.

Ford Motor Co. and General Motors Corp. announced two programs that would cover buyers’ monthly car payments in the event they lose their jobs. “It really attacks one of the key challenges in the market right now, and that’s confidence in the consumer’s ability to make their car payment,“ said Tim Longnecker, automotive industry executive for Acxiom Automotive, a marketing consulting firm. “I think they’re good programs, and I think they will spur demand.“

Ford Motor Co. said today it will cover a portion of car payments for people who have bought a new vehicle from the company and then lost their jobs.