Maintenance on your bike is something that few people look forward to. It can be things as simple as adding air to your tires or lubing your chain, or as complex as servicing suspension or bleeding brakes. For many riders, E bikes can add a lot to their maintenance load, not because the bikes are necessarily more complex, but simply because it's easy to ride further and more often on an E bike. Mid Drive E bikes can also put a little more wear on your chain and cassette than a meat (powered) bike dues to the increased power output going through these components. It is hard to say exactly how much this accelerates wear but most people agree there is at least some increase in how quickly these components wear out on a Mid Drive E bike. A chain will last anywhere from 800-3000km depending on the quality and type of use.
Another component that is going to take an increased amount of wear is your brake pads. Going faster and riding further will surely mean more braking and likely harder braking as well. For street riding you can generally expect to get 2-3000km out of your brake pads, less if you ride off road a lot or in heavy traffic. Mountain bikers will get between 300-1000km out of your brake pads.
For someone riding their E bike on mostly paved or mixed terrain short of mountain bike trails, maintenance should be mostly limited to preventative stuff like lubing your chain and adding air to your tires. You should be doing a basic safety check on your bike before each ride, and a more thorough check every few hundred KM. Bolts can come loose and parts can come out of alignment over time, and it is important for your own safety to check that everything is still attached and functioning before you need to rely on it. Every 1000-1500km it is important to have another person look at your bike just to make sure you haven't missed anything. It is a good idea to check your chain wear and brake pad thickness at this point as well.
Tire life will vary quite a bit depending on terrain and tire quality. A E mountain bike (EMTB) can wear out a rear tire in as little as 400km if it is a soft compound, whereas a street bike with a quality tire could last over 10,000km.
EMTBs can be very maintenance intensive, especially if rode hard. Suspension typically needs basic service every 50 hours of riding and major service every 100-200 hours or annually. Linkage bearings can also wear out and can be costly to replace depending on the bike. Under average use for a EMTB (1000-2000km per year) you can expect between $600-1200 in maintenance and worn parts assuming you have a shop to all of the work.
As an example, in 2024 I rode my EMTB (Orbea Wild) around 3000km, mostly in Cumberland. I wore out 4 tires, 2 front and rear sets of brake pads, 1 pair of grips, a few linkage bearings, and retired an aging derailleur and set of pedals. I also wore out 1 full drivetrain (chain, cassette and chainring). Additionally I performed 3 minor fork services (every 800km or so), 1 major fork service (2 minor serviced in between) and a similar amount of maintenance to my rear shock. I also serviced my dropper post once. Along with all of this, I changed my shift and dropper cables once, bled my brakes, and made countless adjustments and tweaks to keep everything running smoothly. Maybe due partially to luck, I would like to think that the maintenance helps, other than a flat tire and a broken rear wheel (bad riding) I had no other on trail failures or ride ending mechanical issues all year.
On my city bike, I rode around 1500km. For maintenance, I replaced the chain once and lubed it a few times. I think I also probably pumped up my tires once or twice, but nothing other than that. Riding on the road is much easier on your bike.
I am not trying to scare anyone off here, E bikes are a fantastic way to get out on two wheels, but they can come with some ongoing costs that are a bit higher than what you may expect. We definitely have customers from time to time that are a little surprised at the costs, especially if they weren't big bikers before!