On Monday, January 21, 2019 at 4:15:04 AM UTC-7, Shaun Murdoch wrote:
Shark FES (391kg plus me).. around 2-2.5 knots climb at full power.
Battery empty in 7 minutes (apparently). Haven't tried using up the full
capacity for a climb, not been necessary.

It's more efficient to just cruise home with the vario on 0, you'll get a
longer range out of it. Realistically around 70km without terrain or
accounting for headwind. Less if you climb up to an acceptable cruise
alt.


Interesting. Living in the rockies, just cruising home at 0 may not be an option. May need to use it to climb back into the lift band. The FES manual says that the heavier 18M gliders should get over 3,500 feet of climb in a charge. Are you not seeing that?