osco53

I guess I cannot explain it so you can understand it, last try....

A hub motor is stitched into the hub,, torque is applied directly to the wheel,,
there are NO gears unless the hub motor has planetary gears,
and then the range will still be very limited,, to two ranges I would think.
Planetary gears add a lot of rotational mass and gear surface resistance,,,
heat makers often controlled by lubricants,, more resistance...

But YES you can pedal and shift gears all you like, Still the hub motor will only turn at the wheel/tire RPM...
So as you start out most HUB motors will not engage/power up until you pedal up to a certain speed say 3 or 5 mph because
at the WHEEL's RPM below these speeds they cannot produce any useable torque,, all they can do is get hot...

A mid drive sees the gear you are in,,, so In first gear you spin up a cadence with ease as the mid motor can also do...
It can reach a applicable rpm and produce thrust/torque that propels the bike forward from a near or complete stop..

The Motor winds out to its max torque producing Rpm,,, you switch a cassette gear and the motor can spin up again and again
for the next gear change,, My EZ-3 has 7 gears out back,, that would give me a useable motor torque range 7 times wider than a
single speed hub motor...

We are sitting side by side on our Electric recumbent bikes..
Yours is a 'Hub' system,
Mine is a 'Mid Drive'
BOTH our motors are 500 watt rated at 'X' RPM
Both of us are in 1st gear,
We are at the base of a 10% grade, already on the grade,
We push off IN 1st gear, my cadence/RPM of my pedals is the same as your pedal RPM.
say 27 gear inches for both of us....
Your Hub motor is in a 700C wheel and rolling many feet for ONE SINGLE RPM,, you have no motor help yet.
My 'Geared' Mid drive is through my first gear of that 27 gear inches,
so I have as an example, A MOTOR RPM of 40 to your WHEEL/HUB motor RPM of 1.......
Your controller will not for safety reasons allow your motor to engage until 40 rpm...
You got nothing, your grunting up the hill,,,,

I'm grunting up the same hill with 3 or 400 watts of assist and that is doubling my power output....
I'm accelerating past 1st gear, now second, now third,,,, By By

If you cannot understand it this way you need someone far better versed than I to explain it to you..

You may need basics on Electric motors, RPM, efficiency gearing and Torque.. The Public Library would be a good place to start from..

or go here and ask:
http://www.recumbents.com/wisil/whatsup.htm

the Electric section:
http://www.recumbents.com/wisil/e-bent/default.htm

http://www.recumbents.com/wisil/e-be...calculator.asp

There is nothing wrong about a 'Hub' system as they are about the only ones I see due to the simplicity and cost...
But I want the Mid drive even though that system is likely to cost THREE times as much...