Yes I think that's a good summary Peter. Even when intending minimal assistance on an e-bike, there will usually be the odd hill where more serious assistance gets one into the dissipation of effort situation.
But in support of what you say, overall for most users, it's best with a front hub motor to have the sprung forks
I didn't raise the issue of pedalling without power in the main article since it's generally unproductive on hub motor bikes. Although spinning the motorised wheel manually appears to indicate it's very free running, in practice when cycling there is a real drag element due to the orbital gear train having to run all the time, the freewheel in the hub being between motor and orbital set, the latter always engaged with the hub's toothed gear ring.
Although orbital gears are physically very convenient on bicycles, they have almost six times the inefficiency of a normal spur gear pair in transmitting rotational power.
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