Sales of new all-electric (BEV) cars in the EU collapsed 43.9% year-on-year in August, in what carmakers are describing as an “extremely worrying signal to industry and policymakers.”

Data released Thursday by the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA) shows that new BEV registrations dropped to 92,627 units, compared with 165,204 in August 2023. The poor performance means market share shrunk from 21% last year to 14.4%, Kallanish reports.

It was driven by a demand dive in the two biggest markets for BEVs in the EU: Germany (-68.8%) and France (-33.1%). Germany only sold 27,024 new BEVs, compared to 86,649 a year earlier. France registered 13,143 units vs 19,657 in August 2023.

While the end of subsidies in the German market is often cited behind the slowing uptake of BEVs since January 2024, the same can’t be said for France. For new BEVs, the French government offers €7,000 ($7,820) for low-income households and €4,000 for other households, for models eligible for the ecobonus scheme. There’s also a scrappage scheme for second-hand or new BEVs priced at or under €47,000, offering €5,000 for low-income buyers and €1,500 for other buyers or legal entities.

Yet, other than macroeconomic conditions, both markets have a relatively strong presence of China-made BEVs on offer, which are currently subject to temporary countervailing import tariffs.

From January to August, sales of BEVs in the bloc are down 8.4%, with a market share of 12.6% and 902,011 new registrations. As a comparison, China saw its BEV sales rise 18.5% to 583,000 units in August alone.

“A continuous trend of shrinking market share for battery electric cars in the EU sends an extremely worrying signal to industry and policymakers,” ACEA says. “Today, vehicle technology and the availability of zero-emission vehicles are not bottlenecks… the other necessary elements for this systemic shift are not in place. An aggravating factor is the rapid erosion of the EU’s competitiveness.”

The auto industry also saw sales of plug-in hybrids (PHEVs) decline 22.3% to 45,590 units, with drops in all major markets. Hybrid electric cars (HEVs) were the only ones to defy the overall decline trend with a 6.6% increase to 201,552 registrations. The new petrol and diesel car market declined by 17.1% and 26.4%, respectively.