Han,

My sentiments match yours pretty closely.

While I also find it difficult to hit the pulse and glide dead zone with the accelerator technique, I don't worry so much knowing that my fuel economy is good even when there is some back and forth of the battery power to and from the motors when I try pulse and glide. The primary point to improving FE is to have the gas engine off for some fraction of the time during your trip. It is true, but secondary, that it is more efficient to not have energy moving back and forth from your battery.