By chance I met a guy who works for YouBike at a station and had a chat with him. Bottom line is that the electric YouBike 2.0E bikes are not that environmentally friendly.
His job is to drive on his scooter around city with a box full of batteries and replace those that are getting low on power.
The YouBike 2.0E has a replaceable battery that can be unlocked with a key. Those batteries are not getting charged while docked to 2.0 docking station! Those have no direct power connection and the tiny solar panels are just enough to power the locking mechanism and a status LED.
Then he goes back to HQ and puts the batteries into charging stations that charge from normal power grid.
He showed me the battery. I asked if I could take a picture, but he declined after giving it a thought. Understandable, he doesn’t want to get in trouble with his employer.
I recommend to use the classic YouBikes for the love for the environment.
