To improve the energy economy of a four independent wheel motor drive electric vehicle (4-IWMDEV), this paper proposes an optimal based energy-saving torque distribution. The suggested algorithm can adapt to different driving conditions while ensuring stability of the vehicle. The controller encompasses a hierarchical structure, a reference model which generates the suitable vehicle dynamics parameters, and an upper-level control that determines the integrated yaw moment and traction force. The lower-level control employs a multiobjective optimization that considers energy efficiency and steering stability to calculate the optimal torque distribution for each motor. The yaw moment control of 4-IWMDEV, integrated in the latest version of Carsim, with the classical tire workload control, were chosen to compare and evaluate the proposed controller. The simulation results show an improvement in vehicle steering stability and energy efficiency.