Recently, Gree Titanium New Energy Co., Ltd. won the China Patent Gold Award for "a lithium titanate composite material and its preparation method", becoming the only company in the lithium battery industry to win this honor this year, attracting widespread attention inside and outside the industry. In the battery field where giants such as BYD and CATL are present, this breakthrough is particularly difficult. While many people are still stuck in the traditional understanding of "Gree equals air conditioning", 68-year-old Dong Mingzhu has led the team to complete a thrilling leap on the new energy track, pushing a once-questioned technology to the halls of national honors.

The starting point of all this stems from a controversial acquisition seven years ago. In 2016, Dong Mingzhu took a fancy to the lithium titanate technology mastered by Yinlong New Energy and urged Gree Electric to acquire it, but was rejected by the board of directors. In the eyes of the outside world, this may be a signal to stop, but Dong Mingzhu showed his consistent determination and courage. She said frankly: "I have never made a mistake, I never admit my mistakes, and I am always right." Despite facing internal resistance, she resolutely staked all her wealth, and joined forces with business leaders such as Wang Jianlin and Liu Qiangdong to jointly invest 3 billion yuan in Yinlong, becoming its second largest shareholder.

However, the challenge has just begun. After taking over Yinlong, it was revealed that the company’s founder, Wei Yincang, was suspected of misappropriating the company’s interests through related transactions, involving a total amount of 1.4 billion yuan, and was later stranded overseas. For a time, public opinion was in an uproar. There are constant negative voices such as "Dong Mingzhu's investment was in vain", "Gree was dragged down by Yinlong", and "strong women encountered Waterloo". Standing at the center of the storm, Dong Mingzhu faced a "mess" with chaotic management, lawsuits, and damaged reputation.

Many people speculated that she would stop her losses and exit, but Dong Mingzhu chose the most difficult path: taking over the entire company and reorganizing it completely. She settled in Yinlong with great force and carried out drastic reforms: cleaning up management, reshaping the system, and strengthening research and development. In 2021, Yinlong New Energy officially changed its name to "Gree Titanium New Energy Co., Ltd.", marking its full integration into the Gree system. Amid the doubts, Dong Mingzhu silently focused on the technology itself. She firmly believed that the technical path of lithium titanate has irreplaceable unique value.

Lithium titanate technology is not mainstream in the market. Its energy density is lower than common ternary lithium and lithium iron phosphate batteries, so it was once abandoned by many companies. But Dong Mingzhu took a fancy to its overlooked hard-core advantages: ultra-safe, ultra-wide temperature resistance, ultra-long life, and excellent fast charging performance. Gree's titanium battery can be fully charged in 6 minutes, has a cycle life of more than 25,000 times, has a theoretical service life of more than 30 years, and can operate stably even at extremely low temperatures of minus 50°C. These features precisely hit the pain points of specific scenarios.

Dong Mingzhu did not try to use this battery to compete with the long-distance battery life of electric vehicles, but opened up a new application territory. In the field of urban public transportation, buses have fixed lines and dedicated charging stations, and have extremely high requirements for fast charging and safety. Gree titanium batteries are a perfect match. In energy storage power stations, long life and high safety are core considerations, and the advantages of lithium titanate technology are fully demonstrated. In addition, Gree titanium batteries have also begun to shine in high-frequency and high-intensity operation scenarios such as port AGVs, mining vehicles, and airport shuttle buses.

Real breakthroughs come from continuous hard work and innovation. The award-winning patent is the result of the Gree Titanium team's improvement of basic materials, which effectively improved the performance shortcomings of lithium titanate materials through composite technology. It is this spirit of "I will do what others are unwilling to do, and I will break through what others cannot do" that has brought a once marginalized technology to the top. Today, Gree's titanium batteries have entered AGV factories in Switzerland, connected to energy storage power stations in Denmark, and are flying on desert bus lines in the United Arab Emirates. The products are exported to more than 30 countries and regions around the world, and orders are pouring in.

Dong Mingzhu’s six years have been a marathon of refusing to accept fate, from being a lone brave man who was known as the “big boss” to being a game-breaker standing on the industry podium. She once said bluntly in an interview: "Difficulties happen every day. The key is how you look at it." In her, she combines the adventurous spirit of an entrepreneur, the technical persistence of an industrialist, and the strong responsibility of a leader. This turnaround not only saved a superior technology and opened up a market segment, but also reshaped the technological DNA of an enterprise, laying a key wedge for Gree's diversified layout in the new energy era.

Looking back, Wei Yincang, who is suspected of embezzling huge sums of money and is still on the run, forms a dramatic contrast with Dong Mingzhu, who has been immersed in technology for six years. Two sides of a story reflect different choices of opportunity, responsibility and long-termism in the business world. Dong Mingzhu’s road to breakthrough is by no means a simple counterattack narrative. It reveals more profoundly: In the fog of industrial change, true leaders often need insights beyond short-term gains and losses, and the amazing resilience to turn doubts into fuel.

Just like the vertical sand mill that our Yifu has just shortlisted for the title of "First Set" in Dongguan, its core is the craftsmanship spirit and innovative courage of "doing things with heart and solving pain points". The story of Dong Mingzhu and Gree Titanium is like a prism, reflecting the indispensable light on the transformation and upgrading of China's manufacturing industry - not accepting fate, daring to break through, and making its own way in no man's land. This road is full of thorns, but the end may be the sea of ​​stars that leads the future.