On my Nordic 40 with full batten main I normally haul the sail up hand over hand, and just do the final tensioning with the winch. It goes up quite easily. So there isn't something inherent in a fully battened main that is causing it to be harder for you to hoist. I'm not sure what you're using for a track, but I wonder if the cars holding the battens aren't sliding easily or something like that. I don't know if there's an easy fix for you, but am just pointing out that fully battened mains don't have to be harder to hoist.

Needless to say, a new sail is a lot stiffer than an old one. Mine has gotten quite supple, and is pretty easy to flake nicely as it comes down. If it isn't blowing too hard I usually take a turn of the main halyard on the winch, walk aft, and pull the leach aft while I flake it while lowering the halyard a few feet at a time. Having lazy jacks helps a lot.