Power management strategy is as significant as component sizing in achieving optimal fuel economy of a fuel cell hybrid vehicle (FCHV). We have formulated a combined power management/design optimization problem for the performance optimization of FCHVs. This includes subsystern-scaling models to predict the characteristics of components of different sizes. In addition, we designed a parameterizable and nearoptimal controller for power management optimization. This controller, which is inspired by our stochastic dynamic programming results, can be included as design variables in system optimization problems. Simulation results demonstrate that combined optimization can efficiently provide excellent fuel economy. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.