I got this e-bike 8 years ago. I use it for short trips around town, and on our wonderful system of bike paths. It will carry up to 40 lbs. of groceries.
The top edges of the basket are wrapped with an old inner tube. I figure the car I save may be my own.
I mounted a volt meter so I would have some warning when the battery was getting low, doesn't work well for that, and to see how the motor use effected the voltage, for which it serves well. I used a standard 15V Panel meter movement
http://www.radioshack.com/product/in...entPage=search
and biased it with a 9V battery so it measures 9-24 V. To determine the actual voltage, I need to add 9 to the reading, but this is not as much trouble as one might think. I am usually worried about the drop from full anyway.
It cost me about $950 at the time. Now, you can get a similar drive system on probably a cheaper bike from WalMart for about $400. I would recommend something with a hub motor and Lithium batteries if you were to buy it today.
I still run it on SLAs, but I am planning on getting Lithium next spring.
Here it is in the grocery configuration: