OREANDA-NEWS. There is significant growth potential for European Electronic Toll Services (EETS), but this potential is dampened by high entry barriers for market players and the fact that implementation of the EU directive at the national level is not yet completed in most countries. Management and technology consultancy BearingPoint surveyed 30 leading EETS market participants from different industry sectors, revenue sizes and business models, and the key findings provide a view on the current state of the EETS market and on how it will develop up to 2030.

The expected EETS toll revenues in 2030 are seen reaching approximately €12.3 billion compared to current revenues of approximately €8.3 billion, highlighting the attractiveness of the EETS market. In the BearingPoint study “The market for European Electronic Toll Services (EETS),” survey participants do not necessarily see legislators in their own countries driving EETS, but rather see European as well as cross-country legislation as the driving force of the EETS market. The most promising business model is the fully integrated toll service provider that covers a broad range of services and has close contact to both customers and EETS market stakeholders. Considering the EETS value chain in conjunction with service provision and cost efficiency, services like system development, toll billing and marketing as well as toll collection and registration will have significant importance for the commercial success of an EETS provider. 80 percent of respondents do not believe that there will be only one on-board unit available for all end-users and every toll route in the EETS market in 2030.

To achieve the major breakthrough of the EETS market, potential market players will need to establish reasonable and valuable services based on market standards and interoperable technologies whereas national as well as European governmental institutions will need to establish the legal framework to allow the necessary investment in all affected countries.

Jens Raschke, Partner at BearingPoint

The study concludes with five key success factors for the EETS market in 2030, delineating each in detail. The five factors necessary for the EETS market to become a reality along with key takeaways are below:

  1. Regional Acceptance Partner Networks – Well-established acceptance partners in the EETS market increasingly use their market power to reduce rebates and have started to build their own regional EETS acceptance networks with nearby acceptance partners, a first step of an acceptance partner consolidation process in the EETS market.
  2. Non-Fleet Card Provider Cooperation – Non-fleet card providers see high potential in the fleet management market and will enter the EETS market with a combination of payment and loyalty card services in the near future.
  3. Customer-Specific Value-Added Services – It is up to fleet card issuers to raise their EETS market share and to provide customer-specific value-added services in addition to the existing on-road services.
  4. Standardized On-Board Unit Technology – Technology standardization in the EETS market has to be started by original equipment manufacturers providing an OBU that interacts with all European toll systems and tolls.
  5. Availability of Customer-Specific Digital Channels – In the EETS market of 2030, all card users should have the possibility to order parts by a supplier or download toll service data for fleet management optimization via specific digital channels provided by their card issuer.