I tried to post something the other day in regards to this point, but I took too long to type it all up and timed out. I didn't have the energy to go through it all again. Basically what I had done was I looked up the definitions of "battery" and "cell" (because by definition a battery is a collection of cells), and basically showed that the battery itself is just a collection of containers that have the capability to produce/store electrical energy by chemical means. So if you want to weigh the electrics "empty" then feel free to discharge the battery prior to weigh-in, it probably won't make a difference. It's not the fault of glow pilots that electrics have fuel tanks that weigh a pound and a half (or whatever they weigh).

I also tried to point out in that post that Tony has come the closest to providing a decent argument for the change, but not having read his proposal, I'm not sure if it involves total takeoff weight (which I would assume it does, but I can't say with any certainty). My problem is that Tony came up with the proposal after having trouble making weight with an airframe that had made weight in F3A the prior year. To me it seems the better solution would be to allow for the 50g variance for scale errors that F3A allows for and also fix the problem with AMA wording (and this may have been done, I haven't read the rule book this year) that says 5Kg or 11 pounds, because they are not equal.

Flying electric power is a decision people make for many different reasons, but that decision is made with full up-front disclosure of the rules. It sounds like electric pilots are crying foul because now they don't like the rules because it's hard to make weight sometimes. It's like playing cards with my sister's kids...