vkray said:
If you wanted a Adult 20" Trike. You lived in a relatively flat terrain. You want a combo that will give you range of 20 to 30 miles. You do not want to go fast mainly ride on the sidewalks. You total weight is bike and rider about 230 lbs.
Select a trike. HPV Gekko 20 is great rigid frame candidate.
I gather you want simple yet a full range of gearing, as you will loose the front derailleur with a Mid Drive.
Easiest to install is the Golden Magic Pie Edge Hubmotor with throttle only. Controller is integrated in the hub and uses Bluetooth to connect to a cellphone as well as optional LCD. As a Direct Drive motor it's an added 12 lbs of motor alone. You'll either prefer to use a throttle or not at all, not much in between it seems when it comes to preferences.
Most suitable would be a Bafang MG310 with a Baserunner Controller. The controller is a separate unit so it needs to be mounted. Not difficult if one is handy. Kit will have mating connectors but may require some wiring skills. The MG310 is a geared motor that freewheels - no cogging drag, and no regen, but far more efficient than a hub drive. Smaller battery can be used and the hubmotor only adds about 5 lbs. Somewhat stealthy with smaller size, yet more powerful than a Direct Drive of twice the weight.
On a 20" rear wheel with Hubmotor a 24mm wide rim with a Schwalbe Big Ben 20 x 2.5" wide rear tire and 20x1.75 Marathons on the OEM 19mm wide rims ride and handle really well on a Gekko 20.
Battery sizing; Volts equal speed, Amps equal torque, Amp Hours is hour many Amps it can put out in an hour.
Sparing the details, on motor only at 20 MPH, figure you'll burn about 15-18 Watt-Hours per mile, round up to 20 WH/M.
Best battery life is when the State of Charge (SOC) is kept between 25%-85%, so effectively for long life plan on 50% of the rated Watt-Hours (WH).
Worst case = 20WH/Mile * 20 Miles = 400WH; and double that for 800WH. Started with Worst Case as thats where these discussions end up.
On the flip side for a normal case @ 10 MPH the Burn rate will be about 1/4 (4-5 WH/M) so a 200WH rated battery could work as long as the Current output (Amps) is within limits.
Volts * Amp hours = Watthours (WH).
This may help visualize components etc.
http://www.triketech.com/Drivetrain/PowerAssist/HPV-MAC-V2.html