I totally agree with all this. If you look back I was not suggesting hub drives no not have their place and benefits. They obviously do, but they also have their drawbacks, specifically the hub motor does not have access to the range of gearing a crank drive does. To my way of thinking that makes them at best unsuited to mtb.
On the other hand some posters were writing off crank drive with exaggerated tales of wear.
As you say, horses for courses. If you need a bike to give its best on gnarly steep climbs and yet still be suited on gravel, single track and road you need crank drive.
If you never go near steep, stony, root infested off road climbs and spend your time commuting or on tarmac/dressed tracks of course hub may work fine. But to be honest I,m not convinced that even there the crank drive isn't better suited. Wife has a step through Raleigh /Bosch crank drive,nice narrow tyres, sit up and beg Type seating and hub gears. (very wide range) It's awesome on road. Don't see how hub drive could compete with it.
Sometimes there is a solution to mechanical issues that simply works and works better than probably all others. In my humble opinion that solution for ebike is crank drive. The other solutions are simply trying to emulate performance offered. Hub drives are simple, cheap, and available. Crank drive does give better performance on equal power availability. ie) If you compare like with like, same power motor, same battery size, then crank drive will give better performance. I, m afraid that is simply a fact, no matter how much folk defend hub drives. And, yes, you may pay for that improved performance with extra drive train wear. That is also a fact.