Gree Titanium New Energy recently won a China Patent Gold Award for "a lithium titanate composite material and its preparation method", the only lithium battery company to receive the honour this year, attracting wide attention. In a battery sector dominated by giants such as BYD and CATL, the breakthrough is remarkable. While many people still think of Gree simply as an air-conditioner maker, 68-year-old Dong Mingzhu has led her team across a perilous gap into new energy, taking a once-questioned technology to national recognition.
It all began with a controversial acquisition seven years ago. In 2016 Dong saw the value of Yinlong New Energy's lithium titanate technology and pushed for Gree Electric to acquire it, but the board rejected the plan. Many would have taken that as a signal to stop, but Dong showed her usual decisiveness. "I have never made a mistake, I never admit I'm wrong, I'm always right," she said. Despite internal resistance, she staked her personal fortune and, with business leaders including Wang Jianlin and Liu Qiangdong, invested RMB 3 billion in Yinlong to become its second-largest shareholder.
The challenges were only beginning. After the investment, founder Wei Yincang was accused of misappropriating RMB 1.4 billion through related-party transactions and later remained overseas. Public opinion turned against the deal, with headlines such as "Dong Mingzhu's investment wasted" and "Gree dragged down by Yinlong". Dong found herself at the centre of the storm with a company in disarray, mired in lawsuits and with a damaged reputation.
Many expected her to cut her losses, but she chose the hardest path: take full control and restructure completely. She overhauled management, rebuilt systems and strengthened R&D. In 2021 Yinlong was renamed Gree Titanium New Energy, marking its full integration into the Gree group. Amid the doubts, Dong focused on the technology itself, convinced that lithium titanate had unique and irreplaceable value.
Lithium titanate is not mainstream: its energy density is lower than ternary and LFP batteries, and many companies abandoned it. But Dong saw its overlooked strengths, exceptional safety, wide temperature tolerance, very long life and outstanding fast charging. Gree Titanium batteries can be fully charged in 6 minutes, last more than 25,000 cycles with a theoretical life of over 30 years, and operate stably even at −50 °C, exactly the answers to the pain points of specific applications.
Rather than compete on long-range EVs, Dong opened up new applications. City buses, with fixed routes and dedicated charging depots, need fast charging and high safety, a perfect fit. In energy storage stations, long life and safety are paramount, playing to lithium titanate's strengths. Gree Titanium batteries are also succeeding in high-frequency, heavy-duty applications such as port AGVs, mining vehicles and airport shuttles.
The real breakthrough came from persistent innovation. The award-winning patent is the result of the team improving the base material, using composite technology to address lithium titanate's weaknesses. This spirit of doing what others will not and achieving what others cannot has taken a marginalized technology to the top. Today Gree Titanium batteries power AGV factories in Switzerland, energy storage stations in Denmark and desert bus routes in the UAE, with products sold in more than 30 countries and regions.
From a lone risk-taker mocked as the "sucker" of the deal to a winner on the industry podium, Dong's six years have been a marathon of refusing to accept fate. "There are difficulties every day; what matters is how you see them," she said in an interview. She combines an entrepreneur's appetite for risk, an industrialist's commitment to technology and a leader's resolve. The turnaround saved an advantaged technology, opened a niche market and reshaped the company's technical DNA, giving Gree a key foothold in the new energy era.
Looking back, the contrast between Wei Yincang, accused of embezzlement and still at large, and Dong Mingzhu, who spent six years perfecting the technology, is dramatic, two sides of one story reflecting different choices about opportunity, responsibility and long-term thinking. Her path is not a simple comeback story: it shows that in times of industrial change, true leaders need insight beyond short-term gains and the resilience to turn doubt into fuel.
Like INFOR's vertical bead mill, recently listed in Dongguan's first-of-a-kind equipment catalogue, the core is craftsmanship and the courage to innovate, doing things with care and solving real problems. The story of Dong Mingzhu and Gree Titanium is a prism reflecting an essential light on the path of Chinese manufacturing's upgrade: refuse to accept fate, dare to break through and find your own way in uncharted territory.