Installing ETC is not mandatory. According to the State Council's regulations, starting from 2020, vehicles without ETC will not enjoy toll discounts. In the future, only one manual lane will be retained at highway toll stations, and vehicles without ETC can only pay tolls through manual lanes. Additionally, newly installed ETC devices cannot be used on highways immediately; they must be activated first. During free holiday periods, vehicles with ETC can still use highways, and no fees will be deducted when passing through ETC lanes. ETC Deduction Principles: Highways have one or more ETC lanes. The system uses microwave short-range communication between the onboard electronic tag installed on the vehicle's windshield and the microwave antenna in the ETC lane. This, combined with computer networking technology and bank backend settlement, allows vehicles to pay tolls without stopping at toll stations. All this operates on the principle of "pass first, deduct later." Benefits of Installing ETC: Time-saving: Eliminates the hassle of waiting in queues. Green and eco-friendly: Reduces noise and exhaust emissions by enabling vehicles to pass toll stations without stopping. Cost and wear reduction: Saves money and reduces vehicle wear and fuel consumption by minimizing frequent starts and brakes. Improved efficiency: ETC lanes can theoretically increase traffic efficiency by 2-3 times, making traditional ETC faster and more high-tech. Compared to license plate payment, ETC technology is more mature and advantageous. More policy support: The State Council's "13th Five-Year Plan for the Development of a Modern Comprehensive Transportation System" explicitly states the goal of "achieving interoperability of transportation cards in key city clusters by 2020 and significantly increasing the proportion of vehicles equipped with ETC." It also sets a target of "50% ETC usage rate for road passenger vehicles by 2020" in the main indicators of the "13th Five-Year Plan" for comprehensive transportation development. Future possibilities: In addition to continuously improving the convenience of ETC installation and usage rates for passenger vehicles, future efforts will promote ETC adoption for trucks and explore deeper integration of ETC systems with smart transportation developments like vehicle-to-vehicle communication and vehicle-road coordination. This will provide car owners with comprehensive travel services, meaning more application scenarios will support ETC usage.
