suggest a 'normal' looking women's e-bike.

[d_douglas]

I am debating getting my lovely lady an ebike. As our kids get bigger, they are riding alot faster and further, and I think my wife is overwhelmed by the idea of riding with us. She has a very cool Fisher Klunker that she loves, but alas, it has no motor, and her fitness is lacking.

These will be cruises, so a little extra boost is what I think she needs. an LBS that sells Kona said they have two models - a hub drive and a mid-drive version. I have been trained to believe that the mid-drive is the better option, but he said that there are advantages to the hub drive - cheaper, direct power so less wear on drivetrain, and some other points I forget.

My daughter has a Kona Coco, and I know they make an eVersion of this bike. That said, knowing that Kona's demise may be on the horizon, I am less than enthused about buying one (though the shop guy said that the parts are all warrantied by the specific manufacturers, so going back to kona isnt how they do it anyways). The shop also sold Argon bikes and he had an eGravel bike with a Mahle hub drive that he said was good quality and would do what I wanted - any thoughts on this?

My question: can you suggest a few models that are affordable (say $3kUS), look nice-ish and have a dropped top tube?

I know almost nothing about ebikes, so keep your points simple please !