The issue of equitable road maintenance fees is drawing widespread public attention. On June 4th, a commentary pointed out that the so-called "oil vs. electricity debate" is fundamentally a timing mismatch between industrial transformation and institutional adaptation, requiring a solution-oriented mindset. As the new energy vehicle (NEV) population surges rapidly, the long-standing model where "fuel-powered vehicles pay fuel tax while NEVs are exempt from road maintenance fees" is increasingly seen as unfair. The funding gap for road maintenance continues to widen, making reform of the charging system increasingly urgent.

As the first province in China to propose a complete phase-out of fuel vehicle sales by 2030, Hainan is taking the lead in exploring a mileage-based fee reform pilot, leveraging Beidou high-precision positioning technology. Transportation Telecommunication&Information Development Inc.Ltd.Zhejiang (300469.SZ), as the sole technical provider for Hainan's Beidou Free-Flow system, is supplying the core technological support for this significant institutional innovation.

Current Fee System Faces Modern Challenges

China's current funding for highway maintenance primarily comes from three sources: fuel tax, vehicle purchase tax, and road tolls. Among these, the refined oil tax reform implemented in 2009 consolidated six previous fees, including road maintenance fees, into the consumption tax on refined oil, creating a fair mechanism of "more road use, more fuel burned, more fees paid" that functioned well in the era of fuel-powered vehicles.

However, the explosive growth of new energy vehicles is disrupting this balance. According to industry data, the retail penetration rate of NEVs nationwide exceeded 60% in May 2026. As pure electric vehicles consume no fuel, they naturally avoid the road maintenance fees embedded in fuel prices, yet they utilize public road resources equally. Notably, pure electric vehicles in the same class, due to their large-capacity batteries, are typically 20% to 50% heavier than their fuel-powered counterparts. Road surface wear increases exponentially with vehicle weight. This creates an inverted situation where "heavier, more damaging vehicles pay less, while lighter, less damaging vehicles pay more," leading to widespread dissatisfaction among owners of fuel-powered vehicles.

Estimates suggest the annual funding gap for maintaining national ordinary roads has reached hundreds of billions of yuan. As NEV penetration increases further, this gap is expected to continue widening. Commentary has noted that the "oil vs. electricity debate" is not a conflict between vehicle owners but a timing issue between industrial transformation and institutional adaptation, requiring a balanced approach to all parties' interests and steady progress in system improvement. This naturally leads to the question of road maintenance fee reform no longer being about "if" but "when."

Hainan: The National Testing Ground for Mileage-Based Fees

Among all provinces, Hainan faces the most acute contradiction regarding road maintenance fees and is thus most likely to become a pioneer in reform. As the only province without traditional highway toll stations, Hainan consolidated four fees—road maintenance fees, road tolls, bridge tolls, and road transport management fees—into a single Motor Vehicle Passage Surcharge included in fuel prices starting in 1994. This system makes Hainan one of the regions with the highest fuel prices in the country.

With the rapid growth of Hainan's NEV population, the fairness of this model has become increasingly prominent. A large number of NEVs use road resources for free, while fuel vehicle owners bear the entire cost of road maintenance. Since 2023, many citizens have raised this issue, calling for reform of the current charging system. In response, Hainan authorities have clearly stated they are accelerating innovative mileage-based fee reform work based on advanced technology, adhering to the principle of "who uses, who benefits, who pays," and implementing differentiated rates based on actual vehicle mileage, road class, and vehicle type.

Key Technology to Overcome Reform Hurdles

The core difficulty of mileage-based fee reform lies in accurately and efficiently measuring vehicle mileage. Traditional ETC technology requires constructing numerous gantries and toll stations, involving high construction and maintenance costs and failing to achieve full road network coverage. The mature application of the Beidou Satellite Navigation System offers a new solution to this challenge.

Beidou Free-Flow technology, based on Beidou high-precision positioning and path recognition, integrates various information technologies like cloud computing, 5G, blockchain, and big data. It can achieve centimeter-level precision in locating vehicle travel trajectories, thereby accurately calculating the mileage a vehicle travels on different classes of roads. This technology establishes a complete operational closed loop from "user registration - billing - charging - payment - audit," requiring no ground-based toll infrastructure. Vehicles can pass through seamlessly, truly realizing a "pay-as-you-drive" model.

A Monetization Benchmark in Commercial Space

Industry experts indicate that Beidou Free-Flow technology is one of the few projects in the commercial space sector that has already achieved large-scale application and possesses a clear business model. Unlike many other satellite applications that rely on government subsidies, the mileage-based fee system directly serves a major national institutional reform, providing a stable revenue source and broad market prospects.

The Beidou Free-Flow technology from Transportation Telecommunication&Information Development Inc.Ltd.Zhejiang not only addresses the equity issue of road maintenance fees but also significantly reduces the cost of building highway toll infrastructure. Additionally, it can improve traffic efficiency, lower logistics costs, and enhance road transport safety. With the success of the Hainan pilot and the gradual nationwide promotion of mileage-based fee reform, Beidou Free-Flow technology is expected to be deployed across the country in the coming years, becoming a crucial piece of infrastructure for China's intelligent transportation development.