Rio de Janeiro, Aug 9 (IANS/EFE): Brazilian utility Light has announced that it acquired an interest in the plant that China's Zongshen group is building in Brazil to produce electric motorcycles.

Light, which distributes energy in the state of Rio de Janeiro, announced in a regulatory filing that it will pay 120,000 reais ($75,950) for 20 percent of the common shares of CR Zongshen E-Power.

"The business will allow the creating, testing and developing of infrastructure and supply logistics for electrical energy for the electric vehicles market," according to the Light communique.

E-Power is a subsidiary of CR Zongshen do Brasil, a firm that is jointly owned by Chinese conglomerate Zongshen and Brazilian businessman Claudio Rosa Junior.

The group began operating in Brazil in 2009 with the purchase of the Kasinski brand, which produces 110,000 gas- and ethanol-powered motorcycles at a plant in the Amazon city of Manaus.

E-Power will have a plant in Sapucaia, a city in the interior of Rio de Janeiro state.

CR Zongshen do Brasil will make an initial investment of 122 million reais ($77.2 million) in its electric vehicles plant.

Light also announced that, together with the acquisition, it signed an agreement guaranteeing it the first purchase option for all the shares of CR Zongshen.

The factory will be the first for electric vehicles in Brazil and will benefit from the fiscal incentives offered by the Rio state government to firms ready to produce automobiles and motorcycles that use alternative fuels.

The group's objective starting next year is to begin production with proven Chinese technology that uses a lithium battery with a range of 60 km that can be recharged from the conventional electric grid.