These stories of overly litigious malcontents ruining the do-gooders of the world, it's just that, a story.
Donating these electric bikes would have be fine. Uber destroyed them for the same reason that textbook manufacturers and high end fashion destroys their product instead of donating them, because the slightest imagined possibility of a risk to their ego, brand, or margins are more important than a clear and tangible benefit to society. Everything we've heard about uber tells us this is exactly what they'd do, they're assholes.
Look at the companies ex-uber people did, they're all asshole companies like Bird or that ex-uber guy that google successfully sued for $179 million for stealing their ip. I've met with uber at work, they strung us along, telling us literally anything, trying to get all the intel they can, but then got pissed off and start yelling at us when we asked for legal paperwork prior to disclosure of business IP. I've seen people played that way before and I always look out for these kind of spy ruses -- last company that I saw do it was GoDaddy.
Of course they'll crush the bikes and no, it has nothing to do with fear of lawsuits, they're just jerks like that.
The reality is that it's a PR nightmare. One of them fails and all those advocating donations just instantly fall silent. It's like they were never there. And there'll be a massive furore over how these are being dumped on innocent people who were not properly informed, etc. etc.
Oh, I'm not saying you'll be part of the mob. Just that you'll walk away. That's why no one listens to the advocates who have no skin in the game. They are fair weather friends.
And then there'll be the lawsuits. And you either win those painfully or you settle (and everyone assumes you did because you're guilty).