Over how long? The USB lights I have are at least 5 years old and don’t seem to have lost any battery life at all. I don’t cycle that much in low light but they don’t seem to have lost any power to charge or keep the charge. They weren’t super-expensive fancy-pants either, just off-the-shelf Ochsner Sport.
They start degrading after a couple of years.
I use mine in all weathers, in minus temperature conditions in winter too and I have them on full brightness on unlit roads.
These are good quality Lezyne ones.
It’s the number of charge/recharge cycles which makes the difference.
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Worth mentioning, perhaps, that it’s nothing to do with them being USB-chargeable. Battery technology has improved by leaps and bounds in the last couple of decades, so today’s Li-Io rechargeables will last very much longer that the old nicads used to.
But yes, five years or so, a few hundred recharge cycles and they will start to go.
The best lights I ever had were (still got them actually) a pair of little 35mm ones that ran 12V bulbs as used in some domestic lamps, with a choice of beam widths, so I’d have one on 20 degrees, one on 35 (IIRC). And different wattages too - I think the brightest I used was 30W or more, sufficient to blind oncoming motorists if you left the wide beam one on or angled the spot too far up. But you could ride unlit forest trails at night just like it was daylight.
The only downside was the lead-acid gel battery pack, needed to be strapped to the frame and weighed in at around a kg. 
Then again, they still work at around 30 years old…
Yes, I do know that.
The reason why I think the USB-rechargeable ones are so desirable is that you always have somewhere to charge them - from you PC/phone charger/adaptor/car USB socket etc.
LEDs are now far more powerful than the old 12V halogens. You can buy LED lamps for mountain biking which are as powerful as car headlamps.
This baby will melt the roadway in front of you as you go: https://www.galaxus.ch/en/s3/product/magicshine-monteer-3500-s-3500-lm-bike-lights-16725974
But please do not use flashing lights front or back. Flashing lights are to indicate a turn.
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Yes, I knew that too, and no, I don’t use the old lead-acid halogen ones any more. But they’re occasionally useful in the garage.
Then again, I haven’t done any sort of night riding for quite some time. Everything in the village is close enough to walk, everything else is too far to cycle, I mean, yes, with my battery-assisted rigid-conversion of my 1990s Cadex I can get back over the pass from Chatel easily enough, but it’s still 9km uphill (400m climb) from my favourite pub in Abondance, over an unlit mountain pass, so the possible advantage of cycling back so I can drink more is offset by the fact that I really wouldn’t want to be cycling that road at night after more than the couple of pints I’m happy to drive on, IYSWIM, no matter how good my lights were, 
Most Swiss get this wrong and indicate after they have started to turn.
Your wording seems to agree with this and you are incorrect.
Flashing lights are to indicate that you intend to turn.
Fast flashing red rear lights on a bike are a life saver for bikes, especially in poor weather and fog. I’m not sure how anyone interprets that as a turn signal.
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I hate them. No, I don’t confuse them with a turn signal which of course would be orange, but I find it very difficult to work out the position and direction of a bike when they’re flashing. Maybe they’re OK in lit-up areas where you’re just trying to stand out, but I’m not convinced of that either, TBH.
I hate them, I find them distracting and as a migraine sufferer any form of flashing light has the potential to trigger a migraine so personally I think they’re a danger to other road users.
On balance, though, ANY light on a bike seems to be a treat these days. Seems to be de rigeur to kit yourself out in your natty vantablack pants and hoodie, mount your matt black bike then hurtle around for a late evening razz.
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The only time I use a flashing rear lamp is in the daytime out in the countryside where, in normal sunlight, it’s not noticeable nor could possibly be seen as annoying to anyone but on those roads which go in and out of dark forests, it lets motorists know you are there in the dark bits.
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US built cars use flashing red lights, even in Switzerland
The regulations say they have to be yellow/orange. Are those cars from the USA legal?
Well that shouldn’t be allowed, IMO. Anyway, it’s only grey imports, and not all of them either. Official imports are built to EU spec, including the orange lights.
Perhaps it’s GE and VD registered cars. Diplomats dont have fonfollow the rules.
that’s good info (thanks zuzi666 for originally mentioning it). I didn’t know that. I’m afraid my ebike has probably “Standschaden” by now (don’t know the English word, dammage from not being used) and will need to be brought in before use again. All I do is pump the tires once a year when I have to remove it 'cause they clean the cellar.
But I seem to remember that all my life it was the law that bicycles must have light at night.
Is that what they are! I’v only seen that once or twice and thought the rear lights were either broken or the driver had a very nervous foot. Either was a pita.
That’s still the case, only e-bikes must have it always on. But then again, it’s for your own safety so perhaps reconsider.