Background Transportation is currently responsible for around 23% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions, and the number of vehicles on the roads is steadily increasing. At the same time, strict environmental regulations are being introduced to limit emissions. In 2011, European fleet emissions averaged 136.6 g CO2/km compared to 186 g CO2/km in 1995, which is a 26.6% decrease over the period. This is the result of long-term efforts on the part of industry, which have been sustained both with and without legislation. Additional European CO2 targets of 95 g CO2/km have been set for 2020, while the soon-to-be-introduced EURO6 regulations will further limit car emissions. At the same time, Europe is looking at alternative fuel sources, such as Compressed Natural Gas (CNG), to reduce oil dependency. This requires innovation and efficient, yet simple and economic solutions. Objectives The LIFE DI-CNG project aims to make a large step toward clean road vehicles by developing and demonstrating a new injection technology that will allow Direct Injection of Compressed Natural Gas (DI-CNG) into car engines. The use of such an innovative technology will bring enormous emission reductions compared to gasoline or diesel engines. DI-CNG will have performance characteristics (e.g. power, torque) that are compatible with diesel and gasoline engines, which is unique for alternative fuels. This performance can also be reached without compromising injector durability and reliability or engine safety. The injector will be made fully compliant with original equipment manufacturers’ specifications and regulations. Moreover, the need for exhaust after-treatment in diesel engines will be alleviated, thus adding to the simplicity of the system. The project will demonstrate the feasibility of manufacturing injectors at equal or lower environmental impact than current gasoline injectors, and thus much lower than diesel injectors. In other words, the strongly reduced environmental impact over the entire product life-cycle will not be offset by an environmentally taxing production cycle. Expected results: The LIFE DI-CNG project will have demonstrated the technical feasibility and environmental benefits of the direct injection of compressed natural gas (CNG) into car engines at the pre-industrial prototype level. By producing a system with equal or better torque and power output as comparable diesel and gasoline engines, the project expects to demonstrate: A 23-25% reduction in CO2 emissions (with +6% expected due to improved combustion efficiency) and 90% reduction in PM pollution emissions at the engine outlet compared to diesel engines; Reductions of up to 80% in CO (gasoline engine) and 35-60% in NOx (diesel); The installation of DI-CNG on all new cars translates into a saving of 6.97 Mt of CO2 in the first year (at 17 000 km/yr and production of 12.8 M cars/yr); A production process with similar impact as gasoline injector production (lower than for diesel); New technology that is competitive with current CNG solutions as well as with direct injection diesel and gasoline engines, within a system that is fully compliant with upcoming EURO6 regulations and other expected legislation; and The same environmental benefits as on the R&D laboratory scale, with all the expected technical characteristics achieved.