Hybrid electric vehicles positively influence the transportation industry with regards to reducing the use of fossil fuels and minimizing polluting emissions. A class of such vehicles incorporates fuel cells and energy storage systems as alternatives to internal combustion engines. This paper develops a dynamically efficient energy management system for fuel cell hybrid vehicles for the purpose of achieving an optimal power allocation between the energy sources while adhering to component requirements and maintaining the essential operational performance. The paper addresses a two stage control methodologies, pre-driving optimization using linear programming algorithms and on-line optimization using PID controllers and component mechanisms. The performance criteria are based on the overall operational cost as well as the hydrogen consumption per trip. Comparison against a state control algorithm shows improvements in hydrogen consumption. Copyright (C) 2014, Hydrogen Energy Publications, LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.