<div class="section abstract"><div class="htmlview paragraph">The 2020+ CO₂ and regulated noxious emission limits will impose drastic technological choices. Even though in 2030 65% of road transportation vehicles will be still powered by internal combustion engines, a progressive increase of hybrids and battery electric vehicles is expected. In parallel, the use of low-carbon alternative fuels, such as natural gas/ biomethane, will play a fundamental role in accelerating the process of de-carbonization of the transportation sector supporting the virtuous circular economy.</div><div class="htmlview paragraph">Since the nineties FCA has invested in CNG (Compressed Natural Gas) powered vehicles becoming leader with one of the largest related product portfolios in Europe. A progressive improvement of this technology has been always pursued but, facing the next decades, a further improvement of the current CNG powertrain technology is mandatory to achieve even higher efficiency and remove residual gaps versus conventional fuels.</div><div class="htmlview paragraph">CNG direct injection technology will be a step forward because it can be easily applied on new generation spark ignited engines providing simultaneous benefits in terms of performance (gasoline-like) and engine efficiency (4-6%), particularly in combination with variable valve actuation, advanced boosting, high compression ratio and alternative combustion cycles.</div><div class="htmlview paragraph">The paper shows a comprehensive overview of this technology evolution, focusing on a related large collaborative project named “GasOn” supported by the EU commission.</div></div>