The combination of electric motors and internal combustion engines in hybrid electric vehicles (HEV) can considerably improve the fuel efficiency compared to conventional vehicles. In order to use its full potential, a predictive intelligent control system using information about impending driving situations has to be developed, to determine the optimal gear shifting strategy and the torque split between the combustion engine and the electric motor. To further increase fuel efficiency, the vehicle velocity can be used as an additional degree of freedom and the development of a predictive algorithm calculating good choices for all degrees of freedom over time is necessary. In this paper, an optimization-based algorithm for combined energy management and economic driving over a limited horizon is proposed. The results are compared with results from an offline calculation, which determine the overall fuel savings potential through the use of a discrete dynamic programming algorithm. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.