I'm a tradesman who works for a school district in Canada. I am investigating the feasibility of using a e-bike fleet to supplement a vehicle fleet, for various reasons, to move Trades persons between school sites to do repair work. I am putting together some info on this for a presentation. I am a cyclist myself (don't own and haven't tried an ebike yet, but been doing lots of research on them the past month or so including visiting a few shops, gonna try one soon).

My solution is to use an ebike to tow a cargo trailer like the Surly Bill or Ted which would have plastic totes on it (waterproof) to carry tools, lunch, a few common spare parts, etc. Most parts would be picked up on demand from local suppliers or shipped to the site if they are bigger, when required. The arrangement has to be "commercial grade" if it's fair to say which is why I selected the Surly trailers as they are pretty over built and high quality and have some features that other cheaper trailers don't. These trailers would be towed 230+ days per year in all weather conditions, but in a relatively moderate climate for Canada.

The thinking of going with an ebike over a regular bike is for the following reasons:

1) To take the stress off of trades persons knees/body when pulling the trailer day after day, year after year (consider it health and safety mitigation if it's fair to say).
2) To increase efficiency by increasing the average effective speed in "smoothing" out the landscape if it's fair to say.

So I've been looking at off the shelf mid drive ebike options. I need a high quality commercial grade bike to pull the trailer. I can't see the weight of the trailer being more than say 100-125 pounds most days for most Tradesmen who would ride a bike.

My research has pointed me towards mid drive motors. They appear to be user friendly and well put together. The Bosch motors have come highly regarded but it appears as though a lot of off the shelf options have Shimano steps motors as well. I'm also looking at other things like quality brakes (Shimano hydraulic discs come highly regarded), bikes that come with decent tires stock like Schwalbe, fenders, racks, etc. So I have a few questions for you, if you don't mind...

1) I like to look at things like the "what if's" - what happens if the battery runs out of power on a Shimano steps and Bosch powered ebike (can't find anything in the manuals)? How do the bikes "act" - does the motor put appreciable drag on drive train?

2) Will Bosch/Shimano ebikes run without the batteries installed (I seem to recall reading somewhere that this was illegal in some countries)?

3) How come some Bosch ebikes come with a 15 t or 18 t chain ring while Shimanos often come with a 38 or 44 t chain ring yet they have the same or similar rear cassettes? In theory the 15 or 18 t chain ring would be better for gear reduction for towing at the expense of top end speed. What am I missing here?

4) What happens if the motor fails? Can you still ride the bike? Are there any situations where the motor failure would prevent riding the bike?

5) Any thoughts on specific bikes? I've always been partial to trek, they build a great non- ebike and didn't get to where they are for no reason, and seem to have a decent selection of ebikes that appear well built. The Kona Dew-E is another one that has garnered my attention as it has a decent component list to compliment the ebike. I know there appears to be a lot of manufacturers that came about just to focus on ebikes alone as a result of what appears to be an ebike revolution the past several years.

6) I know Bosch has been "king" (for the most part) for a long time. I've done some reading on the differences between theres and the Shimano Steps. Any thoughts strictly on features and durability between the two motors? This may be speculative to some degree as I know Shimano Steps hasn't been out too long.

7) I have also talked to a couple outfits that do hub motor conversions on non ebikes which offers the opportunity to save a bit of money as well as some "redundancy" if it's fair to say, in the drive train. It's been suggested to me by a bike shop that they think front hub motors are dangerous. Remember we are talking about people that would bike for work here, so this needs to be fairly user friendly which is why I take this opinion seriously. I've read some reasons as to why this may be the case, but for now I've ruled out the idea of a front hub motor conversion.

8) Any other thoughts on my idea? I have developed a "program" for the above idea which is centred around safety and protocol. But having quality gear built to stand up day in and day out is a central point to this idea.

Thanks for your time.