Current systems allow a 700 meter launch and about 45 min cruise. Of course if you find a thermal a bit lower than 700M then you can climb in that and save battery by either shuting the motor off or just throttling back to rebuce the sink rate. Doing a car tow or a airplane tow to 300 meters then motoring away is also a big saverer of the battery.

The present systems are really pretty good. And of course as battery technology gets better the performance in a self launch glider gets better.

Robert Mudd
Moriarty, NM

On Saturday, August 24, 2013 4:06:46 AM UTC-6, Chris Nicholas wrote:
Robert, FWIW, the price I paid for my FES retrofit was about the same as a conventional turbo would have cost. For that I got more convenience but less range. I don’t know current prices. It needs some sort of step change in battery technology to improve FES range significantly. Maybe the fuel cell/hybrid will get there first, at a cost. Chris N