I fly an Alisport Silent 2 Electro (FES capable of self-launch).

I take off with full power, climb to a safe altitude, pull the gear up, reduce power to about 80%, and then cruise-climb looking for a thermal. When I find one, I start circling and continue to run the motor. This gets me up into the stronger part of the thermal more quickly.

When it is obvious the thermal is doing most of the lifting, I shut down the motor. With the FES, the shutdown is automatic after dialing the motor down below 1000 RPM (a couple counter-clockwise turns on the rheostat). The motor controller takes over, electronically brakes the motor/prop to a stop, and the blades fold back aerodynamically. The controller then positions the blades along side the fuselage by pulsing the motor.

I simply continue to work the thermal.

On any decent soaring day, I use about 20% of the battery capacity to launch and climb into a thermal, leaving 80% in reserve in case I do something stupid.

On more than one occasion, I have restarted the FES in flight when a thermal didn't pan out. One one flight, I had launched a little too early in the day and needed to restart/re-climb four times before the day started working. Fortunately, starting and stopping the FES is as simple as turning the volume up/down on a radio, minimizing pilot workload to near zero.

The pitot/TEC probe on the Silent 2 Electro is mounted high on the vertical stabilizer, clear of (above) the prop wash.