To further reveal the pre-ignition characteristics of hydrogen internal combustion engine, the effect of hot surface characteristic parameters on the ignition characteristics of hydrogen-air mixture was investigated in this research. Based on the prototype of the constant volume combustion bomb with an overhead glow plug, the duration from the heating of the hot surface to the combustion of hydrogen-air mixture, the so-called heating duration, was firstly researched under different fuel-air equivalence ratio, initial temperature, initial pressure, hot surface temperature, and hot surface area, and the influence of each factor on the heating duration was analyzed. The results show that the order of the effect of each factor on the hot surface ignition is as follows: hot surface temperature>initial pressure of hydrogen-air mixture>equivalent ratio>initial temperature of hydrogen-air mixture>hot surface area. The influence of the hot surface characteristic parameters on the heating duration was further analyzed in detail. On this basis, the relationship among the critical ignition temperature, the heating duration and the hot surface area was researched and established. The results show that the heating duration is the only major factor affecting the critical ignition temperature. Finally, the research results were applied to analysis the pre-ignition in hydrogen internal combustion engine.