Braking force distribution of an electric vehicle has an important impact on braking performance and energy recovery. With the analysis of braking dynamics and the establishment of motor model, a braking force distribution strategy is proposed from the viewpoint of maximum energy recovery. From another point of view, how to distribute the braking force can be thought as a constrained optimization problem, in which the motor maximum power, the motor maximum angular speed and the requirements of vehicle stability are all taken into account. The task is to find the optimal distribution ratio of the regenerative braking torque and the friction braking torque so that the regenerated energy can be maximized. Genetic algorithm is used to solve the optimization problem. The simulation results show that the braking force distribution by optimization is in accordance with the proposed braking force distribution strategy. The strategy takes advantage of the motor maximum torque and can obtain maximum energy recovery.