ERP 2.0 is the satellite-based replacement for Singapore's old gantry system, and the On-Board Unit (OBU) that runs it becomes compulsory on every Singapore-registered vehicle from 1 January 2027. If your car was registered before 1 May 2024, the OBU and its installation were free during the transition, and as of end-January 2026 more than 930,000 vehicles, about 93% of the fleet, already had one. The free-installation window ran for three months from the final reminders LTA started sending on 15 February 2026, so for most owners it has now closed. If you still need the unit fitted, you pay $35 on a motorcycle or $70 on any other vehicle, excluding GST. New cars registered from 1 May 2024 already come with the unit, which is priced at $158.70 with GST. The technology is changing, but the charging rates and the way you top up have not, so the practical question for most drivers is simply: get the OBU installed before 1 January 2027, then keep your motoring card funded the way you already do.
The Electronic Road Pricing system you know charges you when you drive under a gantry during peak hours. ERP 2.0 keeps the same idea but drops the physical gantries. It uses the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS), the same family of satellites your phone's map relies on, to work out where your vehicle is and apply the right charge. The Land Transport Authority (LTA) can set a charging point anywhere on the road network without building a steel gantry over it.
On day one, ERP 2.0 charges the same way the current system does: fixed prices at fixed locations during congested periods. LTA has been clear that distance-based charging, where you pay per kilometre driven on busy roads, is a separate decision that is several years away and has not been switched on. So the move to ERP 2.0 by itself does not raise what you pay. It changes the hardware in your car and the back-end, not the pricing model.
The reason this matters now is the deadline. From 1 January 2027 every Singapore-registered vehicle on a public road must have a working OBU. The old in-vehicle unit (IU) that holds your CashCard is being retired. Between now and then, LTA is running a free installation programme to swap everyone over.
The OBU is the device that replaces the old IU. For cars and most vehicles it comes in three pieces so it can fit different dashboards without blocking your view:
Motorcycles get a single weather-resistant unit with the antenna built in, because a three-piece setup makes no sense on a bike. There is no separate display for motorcycles. If you want the touchscreen on a car, you ask for it at installation; adding it later is more fiddly, so decide upfront whether you want a built-in screen or are happy reading charges off your phone.
Some vehicles cannot feed the OBU a steady supply of power on their own. For those, LTA requires an extra part called the External Battery Device (EBD), which keeps the unit running so it does not drop out mid-trip. This is not a charge most owners will ever see, but if you drive one of the affected vehicles it is a real line on the bill.
LTA names three typical cases that need an EBD: Tesla vehicles, e-motorcycles without an auxiliary battery, and any vehicle fitted with a battery isolator. So this catches a slice of the electric-vehicle crowd in particular. If you bought a Tesla or an electric bike, ask the dealer or workshop whether an EBD applies to your model before you assume the OBU is the whole cost.
For a newly registered vehicle that needs one, the EBD is priced at $196.20 including GST, separate from the workshop's installation charge for fitting it. The same $196.20 applies to a classic or vintage vehicle registered on or after 1 May 2024 that needs an EBD. For older vehicles that came through the free transition programme, an EBD was fitted as part of that exercise where required, so you do not pay the device cost on top.
If you have driven in Singapore for years, the easiest way to grasp the change is to line the new OBU up against the in-vehicle unit (IU) it replaces. The job is the same, deduct an ERP charge from your card, but the OBU does more around it.
The IU sat on your dashboard, read a microchip CashCard and beeped when you passed a gantry. That was the whole of it. The OBU reads a CEPAS motoring card, talks to satellites instead of a steel gantry, and can show you what you are about to be charged before you reach the point, push traffic and flood alerts, and let you settle a missed charge from the unit or the app. The table below sums up where they differ.
| Feature | Old in-vehicle unit (IU) | ERP 2.0 OBU |
|---|---|---|
| How it locates you | Detected at a physical gantry | Satellite positioning (GNSS), no gantry needed |
| Payment card | Microchip CashCard | CEPAS card: EZ-Link Motoring, NETS FlashPay or NETS Motoring |
| Display | Card balance only | Optional touchscreen or the phone app; shows charges, traffic, parking |
| Advance warning | None beyond the beep | Alerts before an upcoming charging point |
| Settling a missed charge | Not possible from the unit | Pay from the OBU, app, OneMotoring or AXS |
| Pieces | One unit on the dashboard | Three pieces for cars, one for motorcycles |
For the large majority of drivers, the honest answer is nothing, because they installed inside the free window or bought a vehicle that came pre-fitted. Here is how the cost breaks down by who you are.
If your vehicle was registered before 1 May 2024, the OBU and its installation were free during the transition, fitted at one of more than 300 authorised workshops. Booking a slot and fitting the three-piece unit typically takes two to four hours, so plan to leave the car for the morning rather than wait at the counter. LTA's last call was the final reminders it began issuing on 15 February 2026: owners who still had not installed were given three months from the date of their reminder to fit it for free, a window that closed for most owners around mid-May 2026. After your free window passes, you pay an installation fee: $35 for a motorcycle and $70 for any other vehicle, before GST. If you have not yet installed, check OneMotoring or your reminder letter for the date that applies to you and budget for the fee.
If your vehicle was registered on or after 1 May 2024, it already came fitted with the OBU. The unit itself is priced at $158.70 including GST, which is typically bundled into what you paid the dealer. There is nothing for you to book.
Foreign-registered vehicles entering Singapore can install an OBU from 1 April 2026 to 31 December 2026, at $158.70 with GST plus the workshop's installation charge. From 1 January 2027, foreign vehicles without an OBU pay a daily flat-rate ERP fee of $3 for motorcycles and $10 for other vehicles, deducted from the Autopass card on exit, on top of the existing Vehicle Entry Permit charges.
| Who you are | OBU cost | Installation fee |
|---|---|---|
| Vehicle registered before 1 May 2024, fitted within free window | Free | Free |
| Same vehicle, after your free window closed | Free | $35 motorcycle / $70 other (before GST) |
| Vehicle registered on or after 1 May 2024 | $158.70 (incl GST), came pre-fitted | Set by dealer |
| Foreign-registered vehicle (from 1 Apr 2026) | $158.70 (incl GST) until 31 Dec 2026 | Set by workshop |
| Vehicle that also needs an External Battery Device (e.g. Tesla, e-bike) | EBD adds $196.20 (incl GST) for new registrations | Set by dealer/workshop |
There are really only two dates a typical owner needs to hold in their head: the close of the free-installation window, and the hard cutover on 1 January 2027.
Installation started back in November 2023 and has been rolling steadily. As of 31 January 2026, about 930,000 vehicles, more than 93% of the fleet, had an OBU fitted. LTA aims to finish the swap within 2026, ahead of the system going live the following year.
| Date | What happens |
|---|---|
| From 15 Feb 2026 | Final reminders issued; three-month free installation window per owner (closed for most by mid-May 2026) |
| From 1 Apr 2026 | Foreign-registered vehicles can install an OBU (until 31 Dec 2026) |
| 31 Dec 2026 | Target for completing the nationwide swap; old IU phased out |
| 1 Jan 2027 | ERP 2.0 goes live; OBU mandatory on all Singapore-registered vehicles |
Driving a Singapore-registered vehicle on a public road without a working OBU from 1 January 2027 is an offence. Failing to install, tampering with the unit, or running unauthorised OBU services can draw a fine of up to $20,000, or up to 12 months' jail, or both. Separately, from 27 February 2026 LTA raised penalties for illegal vehicle alterations to fines of up to $20,000 and up to two years' jail, doubled for repeat offenders. The cheap and obvious move is to get the OBU fitted now, even if your free window has passed and the $35 or $70 fee applies.
The way money leaves your account barely changes. The OBU uses a CEPAS-compliant motoring card instead of the old CashCard with a microchip. The accepted cards are the EZ-Link Motoring Card, NETS FlashPay and the NETS Motoring Card. At your first OBU installation, many drivers receive a complimentary NETS Motoring Card. Your old microchip CashCard does not work with the OBU, so do not rely on it past the cutover.
You can set up automatic top-up so you never run dry. EZ-Link auto top-up works through SimplyGo, and NETS has its own auto top-up. There are also back-end payment options that settle charges from a linked account rather than a stored-value card, including EZ-Link Motoring Services and the NETS Virtual CashCard, with AXS Drive added from September 2025. If you have ever been stung by an empty CashCard at a gantry, auto top-up is the fix.
Charges and rates themselves are unchanged at launch. ERP 2.0 does not introduce new fees for using the same roads; it bills the same congestion pricing through new hardware. Treat the running cost of ERP the same way you did before and fold it into your monthly budget alongside fuel, parking and road tax.
If your card runs out at a charging point, the OBU does not fine you on the spot. It shows an outstanding-payment icon immediately, and you get a short grace period to settle. The standard grace is five days, extendable to seven if the OBU flags the missed charge to you. LTA also sends an SMS two to three days after a missed charge.
Settle inside the grace period and there is no penalty. Let it lapse and you face a $10 administrative charge plus a $70 fine on top of the charge you owe. Your payment status syncs daily across the OBU, SMS, the OneMotoring site and AXS, so you can clear it through whichever channel is easiest. This is one more reason auto top-up earns its keep: a funded card never triggers any of this.
The selling point of ERP 2.0 is that the OBU and its app do more than charge you. The live features at launch are genuinely useful and cost nothing extra:
LTA has flagged features that are not live yet: paying tolls and the off-peak car licence through the OBU, roadside electronic parking (which needs the touchscreen display), and travel-time estimates to expressway exits. Distance-based charging sits in this later bucket too and remains a policy decision, not a switch that flips on with ERP 2.0. None of these change the maths for you in 2026, but the optional touchscreen is the one hardware choice that affects what future features you can use, so weigh that when you book.
Choosing no touchscreen does not mean flying blind. The free LTA ERP 2.0 app pairs with the OBU over Bluetooth and shows the same charges, balance and alerts on your phone screen. It runs on Android 12 and above and iOS 15 and above, and it works through Android Auto and Apple CarPlay so the display lands on your car's head unit rather than a handheld phone.
If you would rather not use the official app, LTA allows a handful of approved third-party navigation apps to read ERP information from the OBU, including Breeze and Motorist. The OBU talks to one app at a time over Bluetooth, and switching between them is straightforward. Whichever you pick reads charge and traffic data only; a third-party app cannot change anything on the unit or move money.
The practical point: the only group that truly needs the built-in touchscreen is drivers who want roadside electronic parking once that feature goes live, since it depends on the screen. Everyone else can mount the phone, skip the screen and lose nothing today.
A few situations sit outside the simple install-and-go path, and they are worth knowing if one applies to you.
On warranty, the OBU carries a five-year warranty from the date of first installation, and the EBD, where fitted, carries a two-year warranty. Both cover manufacturing defects rather than damage you cause, and both follow the device, not the owner, so the remaining warranty stays valid if you sell the car or transfer ownership.
Not every vehicle has to fit an OBU. LTA exempts vehicles barred from mainland public roads such as tractors, locomotives and construction equipment, restricted-use vehicles like airport and port plant, non-mechanically propelled vehicles such as trailers, and classic or vintage vehicles, which use the roads sparingly. If you run a classic, the OBU is optional rather than required.
Laid-up vehicles are the other case to watch. While a vehicle is laid up it does not need a working OBU, but once you relicense it after the installation exercise has ended, you have five calendar days from relicensing to get the OBU fitted. Diarise that the day you reactivate the car so it does not slip past you.
ERP charges are a real cost, but a small and controllable one next to the big-ticket items of owning a car here. A regular commuter who avoids the worst peak-hour gantries might pay a few dollars a day; someone driving into the CBD at rush hour every day pays more. Either way it is dwarfed by depreciation on your COE, insurance and fuel.
The OBU swap does not move any of those numbers. What it does is make ERP charges visible in real time, which can nudge you to shift a trip out of a charged period or take a different route and save a couple of dollars each time. Small, but it adds up over a year for a daily driver.
If you are still deciding whether a car makes sense for your situation, ERP is a line item, not the deciding factor. Run the full picture, including the real cost of a car in Singapore, through your own numbers with the car cost calculator before you commit. For most people the takeaway is unglamorous: get the OBU installed before 1 January 2027, set up auto top-up, and carry on.
From 1 January 2027, every Singapore-registered vehicle on a public road must have a working ERP 2.0 OBU. ERP 2.0 goes live on the same date and the old in-vehicle unit is retired.
For vehicles registered before 1 May 2024, the OBU and installation are free during the transition window. Miss the free window and installation costs $35 for a motorcycle or $70 for other vehicles, before GST. New vehicles registered from 1 May 2024 come pre-fitted, with the unit priced at $158.70 including GST.
For most owners, no. LTA issued final reminders from 15 February 2026 giving each owner three months to install for free at one of more than 300 authorised workshops, a window that closed for most owners around mid-May 2026. If your free window has passed, installation costs $35 for a motorcycle or $70 for other vehicles before GST. Check OneMotoring or your reminder letter for the date that applies to you.
Not at launch. ERP 2.0 uses the same congestion pricing as the old gantry system; it changes the hardware, not the rates. Distance-based charging is a separate policy decision that LTA says is several years away and is not switched on by the move to ERP 2.0.
No, it is optional for cars. You can skip the screen and use the free LTA ERP 2.0 app on your phone over Bluetooth. The screen is only needed for some future features like roadside electronic parking, so decide at installation whether you want it built in. Motorcycles get a single unit with no display.
A CEPAS motoring card: the EZ-Link Motoring Card, NETS FlashPay or NETS Motoring Card. Many drivers get a complimentary NETS Motoring Card at first installation. The old microchip CashCard does not work with the OBU. You can set up EZ-Link or NETS auto top-up so the card never runs dry.
The OBU shows an outstanding-payment icon and you get a grace period of five days, extendable to seven if the unit flags it to you. Settle in time and there is no penalty. Let it lapse and you pay a $10 administrative charge plus a $70 fine on top of the charge owed.
Driving without a working OBU after 1 January 2027, tampering with it, or running unauthorised OBU services can draw a fine of up to $20,000, or up to 12 months' jail, or both. The simple fix is to get the OBU installed before the 1 January 2027 cutover, paying the $35 or $70 fee if your free window has already passed.
Some do. Vehicles that cannot supply steady power to the OBU need an External Battery Device (EBD). LTA names Tesla vehicles, e-motorcycles without an auxiliary battery, and vehicles fitted with a battery isolator as typical cases. For a newly registered vehicle that needs one, the EBD costs $196.20 including GST, on top of the OBU and any workshop installation charge. Ask your dealer whether your model requires one.
Yes. The OBU carries a five-year warranty from the date of first installation, covering manufacturing defects rather than damage you cause. An External Battery Device, where fitted, carries a two-year warranty. Both warranties follow the device, so the remaining cover stays valid if you sell the vehicle or transfer ownership.
Vehicles barred from mainland public roads such as tractors, locomotives and construction equipment, restricted-use vehicles like airport and port plant, non-mechanically propelled vehicles such as trailers, and classic or vintage vehicles. For classic and vintage vehicles the OBU is optional rather than required. A laid-up vehicle does not need a working OBU while laid up, but must be fitted within five calendar days of being relicensed.
Fitting the three-piece unit in a car typically takes two to four hours at an authorised workshop, so plan to leave the vehicle rather than wait. Installation, modification, repositioning and repairs must all be done by authorised technicians; doing it yourself or using an unauthorised service is an offence carrying a fine of up to $20,000, up to 12 months' jail, or both.
Yes. The free LTA ERP 2.0 app pairs with the OBU over Bluetooth and shows your charges, balance and alerts. It runs on Android 12 and above and iOS 15 and above, and works through Android Auto and Apple CarPlay. A few approved third-party apps such as Breeze and Motorist can also read ERP information from the unit. Only roadside electronic parking, a later feature, needs the built-in touchscreen.
This is general financial information for Singapore, not personal financial advice. Figures change — verify current rates against the official sources above before acting. See our full disclaimer.