A New Arena.
From selling batteries to manufacturing them, JD.com is expanding its footprint in the new energy sector.
This time, JD.com has set its sights on shared battery swapping. This could be the new energy sector closest to JD.com's e-commerce and instant delivery businesses. By first serving its own delivery network, the cold start problem is naturally solved.
It is reported that JD.com's instant delivery network has millions of riders (full-time riders have exceeded 100,000, with a larger proportion of part-time riders, and Richard Liu's goal is one million full-time riders). Riders are the most rigid and willing-to-pay user group for battery swapping—swapping a battery takes only tens of seconds, saving 4-6 hours compared to charging, which directly translates into more delivery time.
In fact, JD.com is no stranger to the battery swapping business.
As early as 2023, JD Technology reached a strategic partnership with Didi Qingju to integrate battery swapping and shared two-wheeler resources, expanding the scope of JD.com's battery swapping cloud services from logistics scenarios to parks and consumer scenarios.
Only this time, JD.com has chosen to enter the fray itself, aiming to drive its standardized battery brand "Gongfu" into new arenas.
Specifically, JD.com has planned the Lithium Battery Series 1 to 8 standardized battery products, covering scenarios such as power tools, robots, two/three-wheelers, autonomous vehicles/unmanned logistics vehicles, drones, and ships.
Battery swapping could be one of the scenarios where JD.com can quickly implement and achieve lithium battery delivery at this stage.
Why Battery Swapping
Battery swapping features strong network effects and scale barriers: the profitability of a single battery swapping station relies on a high turnover rate, which in turn depends on station density and the scale of registered users.
This means that once early entrants establish a density barrier, it is very difficult for latecomers to catch up. Leading players in two-wheeler battery swapping such as Yadea and Hellobike have already secured their positions in this track, with two-wheeler battery swapping cabinets ubiquitous in the streets and alleys of first- and second-tier cities.
However, JD.com possesses a differentiated advantage that is hard for others to replicate—its own million-level delivery network. This means JD.com does not need to burn money to acquire users like startups; the daily average number of battery swaps per station and the battery turnover rate are naturally guaranteed, allowing it to quickly cross the profitability threshold.
From the broader industry background, battery swapping is at a critical window for explosive growth.
On the one hand, the operational scale of shared e-bikes in China is steadily expanding, the industry safety and battery swapping standardization systems are steadily improving, and the substitution process of lithium batteries for lead-acid batteries is comprehensively accelerating.
The strict restrictions on vehicle weight in the new national standard make lithium batteries, which have higher energy density, the only choice for OEMs. Meanwhile, the battery swapping model can precisely avoid the fire safety hazards caused by users privately wiring for charging.
On the other hand, GGII (Gaogong Industry Research) predicts that by 2026, the annual shipment volume of lithium batteries for light electric vehicles (two-wheelers) in China is expected to reach 45GWh. Behind this volume is the superposition of multiple trillion-level scenarios, including instant delivery, food delivery riders, last-mile express delivery, and shared e-bikes.
JD.com's New Energy Landscape
Reviewing JD.com's layout in the new energy field, the trajectory is clearly visible.
First is selling batteries. Relying on the authentic product mindset and fulfillment capabilities of its self-operated supply chain, JD.com has long been one of the core channels for online 3C and new energy products. Second is manufacturing batteries, with JD.com launching its self-developed battery brand "Gongfu".
This time, JD.com is targeting the leap from one-time battery trading to "equipment + service + network".
From selling batteries to selling battery swapping services, and from selling hardware to selling solutions, JD.com is completing its transformation from a channel provider to an ecosystem player.
Currently, JD.com mainly relies on its self-operated delivery network and regional density to complete model validation and accumulate battery swapping technology and operational experience.
In the next stage, if JD.com opens its battery swapping platform to third-party instant delivery platforms and last-mile express delivery, it can significantly monetize its battery swapping capabilities into infrastructure services.
Furthermore, if battery swapping standards become unified in the future, JD.com's standardized batteries and battery swapping network are expected to become the industry's public foundation. At that time, JD.com's role will be upgraded from an operator to one of the rule-makers.
Of course, the battery swapping business is not easy to run.
First, it is asset-heavy. Battery swapping stations and backup batteries require large-scale capital expenditures, while the residual value management and cascade utilization of batteries test the operator's refined management capabilities.
Second is the battle for standards. The battery size, interfaces, and communication protocols for two-wheeler battery swapping have long lacked unified standards, and battery swapping stations of different brands are incompatible with each other. Whether the "Gongfu" standardized battery promoted by JD.com can become an industry standard will determine the ceiling of its battery swapping network.
Conclusion:
JD.com's foray into battery swapping is essentially a business of time—turning the time riders spend waiting for charging into delivery time, and further amplifying the efficiency advantage of last-mile delivery.
In the short term, battery swapping can absorb the production capacity of JD.com's self-developed batteries and serve its own delivery network; in the medium term, the battery swapping station network can synergize with JD Logistics' warehousing network and autonomous vehicle delivery network; in the long term, this will allow JD.com to secure a place in the new energy infrastructure field.
From selling batteries to manufacturing them, and then entering the shared battery swapping arena, every step JD.com takes in the new energy track is within the boundaries of its own capabilities. Whether it can win this battle depends on whether it can replicate the efficiency gene of logistics into the density battle of the battery swapping network.