I wanted to share a personal experience with y'all that may be of interest to some of our riders....
 
I don't do hills. I ride where it is flat as a pancake, and the 2 ant hills along my path cannot really even be called "slight elevations." Therefore, when i DO face a REAL hill, my goose is cooked. It had gotten so bad, I was secretly DREADING riding anywhere but my neighborhood.  
 
Like a lot of us, I had a HUGE mental block when it came to electric assist for my trike. I considered it cheating. REAL riders don't use assist. Then I got a Terra Trike Tandem Pro. Greg and I are not ones to shop in the small sizes for clothes. Sweet P, who was the runt of her litter, made up for lost ground. Let's just say that we could do part time work as anchors. The term "rock solid" family applies, strictly in terms of weight.  The Tandem Pro is no flyweight. REAL heavy and REAL long. Combine all of us, and I find myself looking for weight limit signs on roads.  
 
The straw that broke the camel's back came during the 2013 Houston Moonlight Ramble. We were having a delightful time rolling through downtown Houston in the middle of the night dressed as Thing 1, Thing 2, and Things 3 from Dr. Seus "The Cat in the Hat." Then came a dreaded OVERPASS. It gave new meaning to the word "humiliated" when we had to get off and pull that tandem up the over pass at 2 in the morning dressed with turquoise wigs on (yes, Sweet P had a wig too).
 
All the sudden, electric assist started sounding pretty attractive.  
 
I snapped up a lithium Ride Kick. WOO HOO that little booger was FUN! Very simple - hook it up to your bike or trike like a trailer, and when you need a little extra "umph", press a button and it will get you up it! Add to this is the GREAT storage in the trailer. This little trailer is a sweetheart! They halted production in 2014. but are starting up again in 2015. They are fantastic options.
 
BUT - add a trailer to an already endless 10 foot trike, and we start looking like an 18 wheeler. We just flat took up too much real estate. So back to the drawing board...
 
Enter the BionX. It had been recommended to me from the start, but I did not want something permanently attached to my cycle. The Ride Kick is fantastic in that it can be attached and unattached in seconds. Not going to be riding in a situation where you don't need a little help? Fine -- leave the Ride Kick home. The Bionx is more binding than a marriage license. You are married for life unless you choose to go through a messy divorce. I decided after that dismal "walk up the overpass" that yes, I DID want Deuce (the tandem) to marry a BionX!  
 
So now, Deuce has a super sleek BionX on him. Looks can be deceiving - while the BionX looks small and discreet, it is actually quite heavy and will add about 20 pounds to your cycle. About the same as a cheesecake -- looks so good, but will add the pounds BIG TIME.  
 
The BionX is NOT the simple push a button and it will power you up a hill. The BionX is a true marriage partner. It will do it's half if you do YOUR half. You can adjust it to help a LOT or help a little. And the important part of any marriage - you have to work as a team. If YOU don't pedal, the BionX won't pedal. Period. Yes sireee - we're in this together. It DOES have a "panic button" - if you just CANNOT make it one more rotation, push that button and it WILL come to your rescue. But like any good marriage -- one partner should NOT be required to do ALL the work.
 
After thinking the entire process through, I realized that an assist is about as cheating as a self propelled lawn mower. Your lawn gets mowed by you, just like a regular mower. You will sweat and curse below your breath about the work it takes. But with a self propelled mower, you lower the chances of going to the emergency room from a heart attack or heat stroke. It's not cheating. The yard gets mowed BY YOU but you don't kill yourself doing it. It is NOT a riding lawnmower. You walk the walk and push the power. Those that think that self propelled mowers are cheating can take pride in pushing their limits with a regular mower. As for me, I want to have fun and not hope I remembered to pay my health insurance while I try and get up that overpass.
 
One last remark about the assists. Like everything else, the good stuff is NOT cheap. However, when you look at the big picture, a one time investment for an assist is a WHOLE LOT cheaper than an emergency room visit and a physician's bill. The BionX and Ride Kick are a real insurance policy for those who have some health issues that scare the daylights out of them. They literally could be a life saver in some instances. And for those who don't have serious health conditions. the assist can just make a long ride a WHOLE lot more fun.  
 
So plug me in and charge my battery! I am READY TO ROLL!!!___

I think it depends on the circumstances.  If you're a commuter, go for it, but if you're doing major group rides (or worse yet, trying to kill Strava KOMs) that's another story.  There is a rider in my neighborhood who goes down the street (flat road), on his battery powered mountain bike, smoking behind his fairing: I'm still not sure what he is actually accomplishing there.
 
I took this photo in front of the Plano REI
 

 
To me, there is nothing wrong with it, other than the fact that it looks like it might be loud.

We have a friend in Boulder, CO, who has tried cycling the numerous trails there, but has problems with the long grades on some of them.  She suffers from arthritis, and has had knee and hip replacements.  She now has a better quality electrified bike, and enjoys riding it frequently.  I've told her working on the hills would make her better, but I think it's better she gets out on the trail regularly, than sits at home dreading a hard workout.

Quote from AustinSkater on Sep 15^th, 2014, 6:42am:

Exactly. I'm always annoyed by the speeding motorized trike that comes zooming around me every year at HHH.

Tje funny thing is, we won't go fast with the BionX. A legally blind and deaf person does NOT need to be going fast! But y'all do have me wondering how fast we could get Deuce going. Oh wait. I heard them talking and seems like something was said about the BionX not working over 20 miles and hour or something like that? Don't know if that were down hills or what. I got it just to help us get that elephant of a tandem up hills!