You're going to have a difficult time pulling a lot of energy out of the back wheel as you're slowing down. The more you decelerate the less weight you've got on your back wheel. Eventually you reach the maximum energy transfer from back wheel contact patch into the motor and lock up the back wheel, and even then you may not have considerably slowed the bike.
Regen on the front wheel would be most effective - but then you've got two motors or a less-than-ideal front motor that adds unsprung weight and has similar traction issues during acceleration as the front unloads.
It's a shame - I think a lot of people want ebikes to work, but they're not as convenient as a pedal bike (especially not in small apartments) and usually they're too heavy to really use in blended pedaling/e-assist mode.