I've been spending a lot of time on Endless Sphere, its a great resource. Still haven't posted there, but I will soon to see if they can address some of my specific concerns and questions.
I'm pretty set on electric power for several reasons. I like that it is stealthy/quiet. Even though its legal, I'd still rather not get questioned by the authorities about it. Its also cleaner, provided I don't do something bad to a battery. And along with reducing my overall expenses, I want to move away from fossil fuels as much as possible. I don't know where my electricity comes from, but its a lot less likely to be from fossil fuels than gasoline.
And not that it makes much of a difference, my electricity is free.
After doing more research since my first post, it looks like my bike will be fine as long as I use a torque arm or two. I just need to look into converting at least the front brake to a disc to better handle stopping from faster speeds.