Well, I've joined the e-bike fold. My car developed engine trouble that required too much time and money, so my wife took me seriously when I said "For the $3000 we've spent in the last month (not just for my car, but for hers and our kid's), I could have bought a really nice electric bike."

So I did!

We did the car-donation thing to a public radio station for the tax write-off, and I purchased a Salsa Confluence Essa 8 Flat Bar. Uses a hub-drive system, the Mahle X30.

For me, the best thing is that it still looks like a normal bike with an oversized rear hub (which gets kind of camouflaged by the disk rotor).

I x-biked it immediately, adding a seatpost rack for commuting. Took me a while to get my act together this morning, and I left 15 minutes late ... and still got to work on time! I rode like I usually do, with assist at the lowest setting (Eco) for most of the ride.

Shaved 15 minutes off my regular time. Fifteen minutes.

This is probably due to the fact that I have a 700' climb to work (and 600' to go home), and the assist really made it much less of a hairball-inducing effort. At the same time I still felt like it was a workout.

Lots of learning to do and tweaking, but my first ride certainly was an eye-opener.

Very tidy design—no ebike visual cues. The hub doesn't look any bigger than a Shimano Alfine gearbox hub and the battery is cleanly tucked away.

Glad you're enjoying it.

Thanks! With panniers, it's really very stealthy:

Salsa_Confluence (new pic coming soon!)

More to the point, because it's a "light-assist" bike - no throttle, only assists up to 20 mph - I still am getting a workout and just feel like I'm just riding a bike. I've been experimenting with not turning on the assist until I start climbing. If I press a little button on the handlebars, a tailwind magically comes up. (I have an 800' climb to work, and 500' on the way back.) With my old bike, I would only have commuted maybe three times a week, but I've done every day this week and don't feel too beat up.

So far, so good. Having a little trouble getting used to the (modern) wide handlebars and no bar ends. I may do some modifications.

Congrats on NeBD. Looks practical.
I have the Mahle X35 hub system - class1.
Have liked my Orbea for 3+ years now.
Still feel like a cyclist when riding it.
By mixing rides with trad bikes = more consistency on the road.

Congratulations and welcome to the wonderful world of utility eBiking!

You made a smart choice by getting an eBike that is reasonably pedal-able without power. They supplied it with good tires, it looks like.

In SoCal, you can bike year round, but I understand there is a rainy season in June.

Watch out for the pannier straps in the spokes & sprockets. Watch out also for the weight limit on that Beam Rack; it's usually 20 lbs. You might consider adding a "proper" rack at some point.

The wide, flat bars are all the rage for commuters these days. I'd prefer drops, but don't want to spend a lot of money making it happen, so I just put bar ends inboard of my brake levers on my last bike. Cheap, more aero, and effective, and they don't catch on things as much as when they're on the ends of the bar.

Can you put bar ends inboard of the brakes/shifters like this?

Yeah, I have looked at the inboard bar ends. I just prefer narrower bars, especially for the city riding I mainly do.
Our rainy season is actually potentially November through February or March, but some years even those are dry months. In June, meanwhile, we get "June Gloom," which is when the dense layer of moist sea air pushes up into the L.A. "basin" (it's really a coastal plain). That's a pleasant time for riding before the brutal heat kicks in later in summer.

The first thing I thought of was trimming maybe an inch off each end of the bar.

I decided on the mid-mounted "bar ends" as a less nuclear option. I don't ride in tight traffic as much as you might, but even so, I don't need that much bar leverage on a road bike.

I may yet trim it down or may make a real investment in a narrower bar that has a little back-sweep. For now, this'll do.

I hope you find something suitable.