Electricity worries lead Japan car firms to juggle work days

Japanese car companies will stop working on Thursdays and Fridays next month in a move that industry executives hope will relieve the pressure on Japan's faltering electricity supply.

Nissan said 5000 employees would work over the weekend to take the strain off the Japanese grid which has suffered a severe loss of supply after the Fukushima nuclear plant disaster.

A cut in peak demand during the week is expected to aid Japanese electricity suppliers as they wrestle with the loss of power from Fukushima and other power stations affected by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami.

Toshiyuki Shiga, the company's chief operating officer, said the entire industry would shift to weekend work to prevent the electricity system from falling over during peak periods.

The fallout from the earthquake and reduction in electricity supply have made many Japanese companies gloomy about the economy this year.

A survey by the Asahi Shimbun newspaper found close to half of the executives polled at 100 companies believed the economy was heading downhill.

Businesses have complained to the Government of Prime Minister Naoto Kan that it needs to act quickly to resolve electricity supply issues.

Only 17 of the country's 56 nuclear power plants are working, with many offline for repairs after the tsunami or for regular maintenance.

Businesses fear many will be prevented from coming back into use by local authorities, which have jurisdiction over local power plants.

A further 12 new plants are expected to be scrapped following pressure from local groups.

As in Germany, the crisis at the Fukushima plant has sparked a public backlash against nuclear power.

The populist Kan Government has demanded a major shift into renewable energy, with a plan for solar panels on 10 million homes over 10 years.

But businesses are concerned this is too ambitious and will not satisfy industry's immediate energy demands.

One industry source said: "It is fine for Germany to say it no longer wants to build nuclear power plants because it can buy electricity from France, but who can we buy from?

"There is no one. The only answer will be to import more oil, and where does that leave our plans to cut C02 emissions?"

Meanwhile, the UK outposts of major manufacturers, which between them employ more than 10,000 workers, target a return to full production amid production losses because of component shortages in Japan.

Nissan said it had "stabilised" the situation at its Sunderland plant, while Toyota pledged to claw back UK production losses by the end of the year.

Honda has cut its production target at Swindon this year from 122,000 vehicles to about 102,000 and will not return to pre-tsunami production levels until after its northern summer break.

- OBSERVER