The effect of rare earth oxides, that is, La2O3,CeO2,Nd2O3 and Y2O3, on the electrochemical performance of hydrogen storage electrode was investigated. The results show that the four rare earth oxides, except Y2O3, are all beneficial to the electrochemical performance of the hydrogen storage electrode, including activation, high rate discharge, discharge voltage and cycle life. For the cycle life, the more the rare earth oxides, the better the cycle life is; but there exists an optimum value of the oxides for the 1 C discharge capacity and discharge voltage, The results are due to three reasons: (1) rare earth oxides increase the contact resistance among the hydrogen storage alloy particles; (2) rare earth oxides have catalysis; (3) rare earth oxides can stabilize the catalyst Ni on the surface of hydrogen storage alloy and prevent the hydrogen storage alloy from being further oxidized.