> And why the batteries have to discharge at the same rate in the first place? It's the definition of the cells being in parallel. Since they all have the sam

> And why the batteries have to discharge at the same rate in the first place? It's the definition of the cells being in parallel. Since they all have the same voltage difference (as the fronts and backs are all tied together with wire), they have to discharge at the same rate. The balancing dogma1138 was describing is done to allow some batteries to run at slightly different voltages so they all are at around the same state of charge.