They article quotes $1400 for these bikes as initial investment. Add that to my personal assertation that anyone working on a bike should be handy enough to DIY for all things related to service/repair. Bikes are not hard to work on at all. If you agree with that, then you should be able to convert a standard bike to an e-bike with a couple hundred dollar kit that is readily available. Unless there's some kind of market capture here where they can't access the cheap parts I have access too via Alibaba/Amazon, this could easily be a DIY with a few simple tools and some research on YT. I've done this myself with no special electronic experience (however, I did service my own BMX bikes when I was a kid/teen).
Do you have any recommendations for something weatherproof? Maybe something easy to convert back to regular bike? I would love for a little supplementary power to flatten the hills on the commute.