jaywalkerice

We took a trip through the sierra nevadas recently. I kept the car on Eco cruise mode the whole trip. Since the trip was mostly up hill, all of the event was used up and the battery indicator was about 50% when we finally reached the summit, I was able to coast for several miles downhill and fully recharged the battery indicator enough to register two miles remaining of ev mode. Does anyone know if it is more efficient to coast down long hills like that our to gently apply the brakes?