Dual active bridge converters are widely applied to bidirectional power conversion systems. In this paper, aiming at the slow dynamic response of traditional proportional integral control and the contradiction between current stress and starting speed, a start control strategy based on deadbeat is proposed. Firstly, the working state of single phase shift (SPS) and extended phase shift (EPS) control of DAB converter is analyzed, the output voltage model is obtained. A startup optimization strategy based on deadbeat is proposed for the existing model predictive control methods. Then the steady-state control is switched to SPS control to reduce the complexity of system control. Finally, the simulation results on PSCAD software show the superiority of the proposed method. Compared with the traditional control strategy, the proposed method can achieve fast startup and significantly improve the dynamic response performance. In addition, the proposed control strategy can accurately and stably track the reference value in the transient stage, and this control method is more efficient and simpler.