I'd hafta vote for a "constant" or regulated speed over the "pulsing" as described above - with our speeds & HP pulsing 5mph variance at top speed or cruise w/the resultant amp draw is too much...
The "conservation mode" I use for the extended trips in excess of my worst case scenario range is fairly basic yet effective - leaving my bike in it's top gear all the time, I'll pedal assist all take offs and set the cruise control/maintain throttle to about 22-23mph out of a max 26-27 level ground. When I encounter enough of a grade that the bike slows below this set speed, it now conveniently matches my bike's tallest pedal gear (20-21mph) and I'll begin assisting it to maintain that speed until it can sustain that 22-23 again unassisted.
This method alleviates the maximum load draw without much effort... thing is the manual throttle control isn't very precise and it can be difficult to attempt to maintain a set speed, resisting the urge/inadvertently increasing the throttle to compensate for a speed loss - particularly while pedaling.
It's interesting to note that the cruse control feature with the MP hubs works via a "pulsing" effect however - but that pulsing is far more frequent & active than the 5mph mentioned above. Maintaining a set speed below WOT & on level ground results in a series of "micro-pulses" a fraction of a second on/off/on etc. (& variable duration, the more it's needed the longer the "on" pulse) but not at maximum power., when a hill is encountered it will smooth to a steady on to attempt to maintain speed uphill & off completely descending/coasting downhill.
When using the throttle manually, say just holding it at 3/4 or so there's no pulsing or disengagement - it's a steady input regardless of speed & even in excess of the normal speeds achieved, it's continuing to supply some amount of power even going downhill. So to conserve power w/o CC a constant manual throttle manipulation is required as is restraint - gentle engagement/re-engagement & never exceeding that 3/4 mark...
...and it may be just me, but I find to sustain a set speed like that not impossible - but difficult, particularly while pedaling. The throttles on these things aren't that precise and there's the urge to WOT assist your pedaling instead of the other way around.
If I'm downtown, concerned with pedestrians, stop n'go traffic or otherwise and thus CC is not an option I'll tend towards a simpler if less effective method of conservation - WOT to accelerate with
heavy pedal assist to reduce the duration of amp draw/increase acceleration & then manual throttle modulation, remembering off completely to coast downhills.
The differences between CC & manual may be "splitting hairs" ...but power/fuel conservation is often best achieved through exactly that, particularly consistency. All your conservation efforts can be negated with one "slip" - WOT to max speed or uphill w/o pedaling can conceivably use up miles of sustained, moderate cruse with just a 1/4 mile of such decadence lol
...but I'm no expert & I've no fancy meter to monitor input/output, it is however easy enough to gauge the relative effectiveness of the above as you can usually hear the motor's engagement & load levels clearly - obviously the louder it is, the longer the duration = the harder it's working, the more amps it's consuming
