See, that's just it though- I don't want to buy a whole bike. I want to put my own together. I haven't seen a complete ebike yet that fits my needs. I've seen a few that were pretty close, but they were always way overpriced and under powered. I haven't seen one yet that has lots of power, easily folds to a compact size, is light enough to carry on a train, has the power to pull a bigger guy like me up a hill, and still manages to look normal when not folded.

The only thing stopping me from putting my own together at this point is the batteries. The only ones I can find are ugly blocks that need to be mounted.

If some ebikes out there store the batteries inside the frame, where can I buy those batteries?

I would think that with so many people selling hub motors that are already mounted on the rim, and turn key conversion kits, that there would be plenty of people selling batteries that are made for ebikes. But that's not really the case.

Sure, there are a few kits out there that consist of several batteries (that were made for cordless drills) all taped together to form a big, ugly, pack. But where are the companies that make/sell batteries made specifically for ebikes? Batteries that fit in the frame, and/or in the hubs?

It seems like with a frame and/or hub full of lithium you would have enough juice to be comparable to any other ebike out there.

Oil companies must own a lot of stock in the battery companies or something. Because in my opinion, batteries are the only thing holding ebikes back from going mainstream.

If it were as easy to get cosmetically appealing batteries as it is to get cosmetically appealing motors, then lots more people would be putting ebikes together. And lets face it, not too many people are going to be shelling out almost 2 grand to buy one that looks halfway decent. Especially when they could probably put the same thing together for under a grand of the batteries were for sale to the general public.