NoSho,

Welcome. Do you have a bicycle? If so, you could consider a kit to convert your existing bike. I retired to the far northern US Rockies and have some very steep hills to deal with. I added an electric assist kit to my mountain bike last summer and love it. Since you live in a hilly area, you need a motor capable of good torque. Most non-hub motors have better torque (I added a non-hub motor kit to my bike because I need good torque). You have to go with a pretty powerful hub motor to get good torque, but then you do run the risk of damage to your frame if it's not steel from the torque of the motor

If you need a ready-made e-bike and you don't want to invest a lot of money until you know that you will commute by bike regularly, you could start with an affordable Ezip or Izip rack mounted battery model. They come with an SLA battery, but you could upgrade to LIFEPO4 on your own. If you've got more money and want an e-bike with a non-hub motor that's a good hill climber, you might check out the sale at High Tech Bikes. http://www.hightekbikes.com/htb_midmnt.html

You may be hard pressed to find an affordable ready-made e-bike with a hub motor capable of good torque. Most of the ready-made bikes are made for the world market and have smaller motors that comply with the strict power and speed limits imposed by the EU and parts of Asia.

You might want to check out Endless Sphere's forums before you buy anything, they've got a lot of useful information on hub motors, non-hub motors, controllers and battery technology. All things you'll need to consider when making your purchase. Good luck. endless-sphere.com/forums