What is Vehicle ETC?

[ONevaeh]

An ETC vehicle refers to a vehicle equipped with an ETC onboard unit. ETC stands for Electronic Toll Collection in Chinese. ETC enables toll payment without stopping through dedicated short-range communication between the onboard electronic tag installed on the vehicle's windshield and the microwave antenna in the ETC lane at toll stations. This system utilizes computer networking technology for backend settlement with banks, allowing vehicles to pay highway or bridge tolls without stopping at toll booths. The fully automatic electronic toll collection system (ETC) is one of the service functions of intelligent transportation systems. It is particularly suitable for use on highways or in busy bridge and tunnel environments. This system processes each vehicle's toll in less than two seconds, with a lane capacity 5 to 10 times that of manual toll lanes. Implementing ETC enables paperless and cashless toll management, fundamentally eliminating revenue leakage and addressing financial management issues in highway toll collection. Additionally, adopting ETC can save infrastructure and management costs. Documents required for ETC application: The vehicle owner's original valid ID card, original and photocopy of the vehicle registration certificate (showing the most recent annual inspection stamp page). For proxy applications, the proxy's original valid ID card is also required. When applying through major bank branches, a corresponding bank debit or credit card is needed. Some banks only support ETC binding with credit cards, while others may require freezing a portion of funds as collateral when binding with debit cards. ETC charging principle: Highways have one or more ETC lanes. Through microwave-based dedicated short-range communication between the vehicle's onboard electronic tag and the toll station's microwave antenna, computer networking technology facilitates backend bank settlement. This achieves the purpose of paying tolls without stopping at highway or bridge toll booths, operating on a "pass first, deduct later" principle. Benefits of installing ETC: Time-saving: Eliminates waiting in queues; Eco-friendly: Reduces noise and exhaust emissions by eliminating stops at toll booths; Cost-efficient: Decreases vehicle wear and fuel consumption by reducing frequent starts and stops; Improved efficiency: ETC lanes theoretically increase throughput by 2-3 times compared to manual lanes, making traditional ETC faster and more technologically advanced. ETC technology is more mature and advantageous compared to license plate payment systems. Policy support: China's State Council explicitly proposed in the "13th Five-Year Plan for Modern Comprehensive Transportation System Development" to "basically achieve intercommunication of transit cards in key city clusters by 2020, with significantly increased ETC installation rates," and set a target of "50% ETC usage rate for road passenger vehicles by 2020" in the main indicators of comprehensive transportation development. Future potential: Beyond improving ETC installation convenience and passenger vehicle usage rates, future plans include promoting ETC for trucks and exploring deeper integration between ETC systems and intelligent transportation developments like vehicle-to-vehicle communication and vehicle-road coordination, providing comprehensive travel services for vehicle owners. This means more application scenarios will support ETC. ETC usage precautions: The ETC transaction sensing range is 8 meters. When following another vehicle, maintain a distance of over 10 meters to prevent accidental payment for the preceding vehicle in case of ETC device failure or absence. The recognized speed limit in ETC lanes is 20km/h. Excessive speed may prevent device reading and cause payment failure. Unauthorized removal or movement of OBU devices, or detachment/loosening of ETC tags will deactivate the electronic tag. These can be inspected at ETC-issuing banks or highway service centers. Non-deliberate detachment only requires reactivation. Insufficient balance in debit cards linked to ETC may cause payment failure. Follow staff guidance to use manual MTC lanes with cash or card payment. Excessively thick windshields (especially after accident repairs or modifications) may cause poor signal reception.