I've read many posts on this subject, but I never really understood how electric motors use energy until I connected an ampmeter to my bike. We've all grown-up around gas engines that function poorly when at high rpms. For example, if you drove in 1st gear all the time in a car, you'd get horrible gas mileage. Our ebikes are the opposite. When I drive my scooter in 1st gear, it humms along using very few amps. I can get approximately the same range in 1st gear as 4th (I think).
The worst waste of energy occurs at low rpms when acclelerating, or when going up hills. I beleive that most people using hub motors would benefit from a smaller wheel (lower gear). If you downsize your wheel (or voltage) so your top speed while driving is approximately equal to your no load speed, then your bike will be optimized.
It sounds like that in your case, if you made a smaller wheel so your "no load" speed was 25mph, and when you rode your bike you spent lots of time going 22-25mph, you'd get much more range.
According to the simulator, your top speed is 40mph+. I bet you spend 90% of your time at speeds below 25mph when riding which means you may only be getting about 55% efficiency.
The idea is to find a "comfort speed" for the bike, and drive at approximately that speed. Then your motor will humm along using very few amps.
When I ride my scooter I can easily feel when the motor hits the "no load" type rpm. It almost feels like its coasting, and the amps go way down. However, if your bike's "no load" speed is 40+ mph, you may not be able to experience it reaching this zone because wind resistance may prevent you from reaching 40+ mph.
xyster just downsized his back wheel and lost nothing in the process. Look for his thread.
My 2c