In order to improve the fuel economy of hybrid electric vehicle and reduce the cost in the development of energy management strategy, this article optimize the energy management strategy for a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) by using dynamic simulation. The vehicle model is builded according to vehicle’s parameters by using RecurDyn software. The energy management strategy based on the threshold value is established by using Simulink module in MATLAB software. After that, the dynamic performance and fuel economy of the full vehicle are carried out in several different typical driving conditions. The analysis results reveal the influence of different design parameters on the fuel economy. Finally, the optimal working points for each driving condition is figured out. The feasibility of the vehicle model and energy management strategy built in this paper are verified, and the energy management strategy is optimized.