Hydrogen is the next game changer, says China's electric cars visionary Wan

For Wan, a mechanical engineer trained in Germany, the shift toward hydrogen is a natural step in realizing a vision of having electric cars dominate inner-city traffic

His vision to make China an electric-vehicle powerhouse revolutionized the global auto industry, cementing a move away from the combustion engine.

Now, Wan Gang says get ready for the next game-changing moment.

The world’s biggest car market is set to embrace hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles the way it did Electric Vehicles, Wan, who’s been called the father of China’s electric-car movement, said in a rare interview in Beijing on June 9.

A former Audi executive who went on to become China’s science-and-technology minister, Wan convinced leaders two decades ago to bet on the then-untested technology of vehicle electrification, selling it not