(Yicai) Feb. 2 -- Teld New Energy, which owns and runs China’s largest charging pile network, had its first annual profit after almost a decade in business thanks to the country’s fast-growing market for electric vehicles.

Teld’s parent company, Qingdao-based Tgood Electric, said in a recent earnings update that the unit’s public charging network had been greatly enlarged, boosting both revenue and profitability. But Tgood did not break out specific figures for Teld.

China, the world’s biggest auto market, had more than 20.4 million new energy vehicles as of Dec. 31, a 4 percent increase on a year earlier and making up 6 percent of all cars on the road, according to official data.

Teld had a network of 523,000 charging piles in China at the end of last year, and supplied about 9.3 billion kilowatt hours, an increase of 59 percent on the previous year. More than half of them were the faster direct current type, making up more than a quarter of all those in the country.

Tgood, which makes electrical distribution boxes, entered the EV charging business by setting up Teld in 2014. The privately held subsidiary’s first annual profit was a long time in coming due to the high initial investment. Total investment in the firm tallies CNY11 billion (USD1.5 billion), with almost a fifth of that earmarked for research and development, according to its website.

Seventy-eight percent owned by Tgood, Teld narrowed its net loss by 49 percent to CNY26 million (USD3.6 million) in 2022 on a 47 percent jump in revenue to CNY4.6 billion (USD640.7 million).

Tgood expects its won net profit to climb 50 percent to 90 percent to between CNY408.3 million and CNY517.2 million (USD57.5 million and USD72.8 million), as a result of gains at its two major business segments, power equipment and charging piles.

Shares of Tgood [SHE: 300001] fell 1.5 percent to close at CNY16.63 (USD2.33) each today, while the Shenzhen market lost 2.2 percent. Tgood’s stock is down 17 percent so far this year.

Editor: Emmi Laine