Big, have to admit I’ve been looking at ebikes for a while for all the reasons you mentioned. So far haven’t ridden one. I worry that they are so heavy that the feel is lost. A light responsive road bike is a joy to ride. I have ordered a more rugged style for some dirt trail exploring. Seems like the perfect application. We’ll see, the wait is long but everything has snow right now.
You can get small hub motors and also don’t need a huge battery. A LIPO battery pack that would fit in one hand would give you a range of 20+ miles if you were half peddling, half whacking the gas.