This paper proposed a way for realizing the load control of a hydrogen-blended gasoline engine running at the wide open throttle (WOT) condition through lean combustion. The engine performance of the original gasoline engine and a 3% hydrogen-blended gasoline engine running at the WOT and lean conditions under various loads at a constant engine speed of 1400 rpm was compared. The experimental results showed that because of the reduced residual gas fraction and throttling loss, brake thermal efficiency of the 3% hydrogen-blended gasoline engine running at the WOT and lean conditions was obviously higher than that of the pure gasoline engine. The 3% hydrogen-blended gasoline engine running at the WOT and lean conditions produced much lower particulate and CO emissions than the original gasoline engine. Besides, NOx emissions at part load conditions were also reduced for the 3% hydrogen-blended gasoline engine running at the WOT and lean conditions. Copyright (C) 2014, Hydrogen Energy Publications, LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.