In order to reduce the load rate of CAN bus and improve the real-time performance of control system, CAN bus control system of a pure electric vehicle is studied. Communication messages of each node are optimized and redefined by sorting the message into three types: control message, status message and alarm message. Event triggered mode is added to the communication way of CAN bus, and the communication control strategy of the vehicle is made. It is proved that CAN bus load rate of control system is reduced after optimization, and the real-time performance of communication is improved effectively.