Economic Observer Network reporter Gao Feichang Intern reporter Wang Lingyun On January 30, the fire incident of several new energy buses parked in an open space in Fenghuang Village, Tianya District near Sanya Airport was listed on the hot search list. According to the video of the scene of the accident recorded by witnesses, black smoke was filled and the fire was big. After receiving the alarm, local fire rescuers immediately rushed to the scene for disposal, and it took nearly two hours to completely extinguish the open fire on the scene. After preliminary approval by the fire department, a total of 80 vehicles were parked at the site, and 67 new energy buses were fired, with an area of about 1,800 square meters. The cause of the fire and property losses are under investigation and statistics.

　　According to the video reported by Sanya Radio and Television Station, some of the over-fired but not completely burned vehicles can see the obvious word "Yinlong" on the front, and some of the unburned vehicles are printed with the logo of "Guangtong Pure Electric" (Zhuhai Guangtong Automobile Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of Gree Titanium).

　　Some local villagers reported that these new energy buses with Sanya licenses had been parked in the empty space of Fenghuang Village in 2022 and had been left unattended. Some on-site staff also called these vehicles "French cars".

　　According to public information, at the end of August 2021, Gree Electric successfully acquired Yinlong New Energy Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Yinlong New Energy"), and two months later Yinlong New Energy announced its name change to "Gree Titanium New Energy Co., Ltd." (hereinafter referred to as "Gree Titanium").

　　The relationship between Gree Electric and Yinlong New Energy can be traced back to 2016. Dong Mingzhu, chairman and president of Gree Electric, pushed Gree Electric to buy Yinlong New Energy because of his optimistic market prospect of new energy vehicles, but this proposal was rejected at the shareholders’ meeting. Soon after, as a natural person shareholder, Dong Mingzhu, together with his friends Wang Jianlin and Liu Qiangdong, invested 3 billion yuan in Yinlong New Energy, and Dong Mingzhu became the second largest shareholder of the company, holding 17.46%.

　　In November 2018, Zhuhai Yinlong experienced twists and turns in company management disputes. At that time, Yinlong New Energy Co., Ltd. issued a statement saying that during the performance of their duties, the new board of directors, the board of supervisors and the management of the company found that Wei Yincang, the former chairman, and Sun Guohua, the former president, were suspected of encroaching on the company’s interests by illegal means, amounting to more than 1 billion yuan. The company has filed a civil lawsuit with Zhuhai Intermediate People’s Court, and the Economic Investigation Detachment of Zhuhai Public Security Bureau has reported the case, and the relevant institutions have officially accepted it.

　　In September, 2021, Gree Electric announced that the company won 30.47% equity of Yinlong New Energy by participating in the public auction of judicial auction, and Dong Mingzhu also entrusted Gree Electric to exercise the voting rights corresponding to its equity of Yinlong New Energy, and Yinlong New Energy became a holding subsidiary of Gree Electric.

　　On February 2nd, the reporter of Economic Observer Network called the Gree Electric investor hotline to inquire about the above-mentioned new energy bus fire, but as of press time, the phone could not be connected.

　　Since the popularization and application of new energy vehicles in China, the incidents of fire of new energy vehicles have frequently appeared in newspapers. But a single large-scale fire is still rare. Judging from the scale of the damaged vehicles, the number of passenger vehicles in Sanya this time is second only to the fire accident of Beijing Xiedao electric bus a few years ago.

　　On May 1, 2017, cars caught fire in the parking lot of Xiedao Resort Park, Dongwei Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing, and a total of 89 new energy buses were burned, all of which were produced by An Kai buses. Fortunately, the incident did not cause any casualties. According to the investigation results of Beijing Fire Department at that time, the accident was caused by the rapid burning and spreading of piled catkins.

　　At that time, most of the accidents were the 6111K10 pure electric buses of An Kai Bus. It is understood that this model is a pure electric commuter car in the new energy bus products of An Kai Bus, with a body length of about 11 meters, and the energy storage device is Ferrous lithium phosphate power battery produced by Guoxuan Hi-Tech. It is worth mentioning that when the specific cause of the fire was not announced at that time, Star Charging, a bus and charging pile enterprise in An Kai, made a clarification in advance, indicating that the cause of the accident was neither the quality problem of the electric bus itself nor the charging failure.

　　At present, Gree Titanium has two kinds of battery products, including its main technology lithium titanate battery and traditional lithium iron phosphate battery, both of which are applied to new energy buses and special vehicles under Gree Titanium. The specific cause of the new energy bus fire accident in Sanya has yet to be investigated by relevant departments.

　　Cross-border car-building for several years, the road to car-building in Dong Mingzhu has not been smooth. Yinlong Effie, the first MPV model of Yinlong New Energy, has poor sales in the market. The data shows that its sales volume in 2019 was only 2,708 units. In 2021, sales once rebounded, but in 2022, sales fell again.

　　According to the data of the Passenger Association, in 2022, China’s new energy bus market generally resumed growth, with sales of 58,000 units from January to December, an increase of 18%. According to the statistics of China Bus Information Network, in 2022, the sales volume of new energy buses over 6 meters in China was TOP5, Yutong Bus, Suzhou Jinlong Bus, Zhongtong Bus, BYD and CRRC Electric respectively, while Gree Titanium New Energy ranked 12th with sales volume of 1,736 vehicles, down 14.27% year-on-year, with a market share of only 2.82%.