March 13 (Reuters) - Global EV registrations fell 11% in February, dragged by China's largest sales drop since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020, data by consultancy Benchmark Mineral Intelligence (BMI) showed on Friday.

As governments worldwide hit the brake on policies designed to encourage purchases of electric cars, China has pulledfunding for auto trade-ins, while a tax exemption on EV purchases in the country expired at the end of last year.

China, the world's largest EV market, recorded in February a 32% year-on-year drop in new battery-electric and plug-in hybrid car registrations, a proxy for sales, to less than 500,000 vehicles, BMI said.

That is in line with a 34% drop in overall car sales in the month recorded by the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers.

"Consumers are very price sensitive", BMI data manager Charles Lester said.

Worldwide, registrations fell for a second month in February to just over one million cars sold, their lowest since the same month of 2024.

The North American market contracted by 35% to under 90,000 EVs sold, falling for a fifth consecutive month after the end of an EV tax credit scheme in the United States last September and proposals by President Donald Trump's administration to further cut Co2 emission standards.

Trump's policies and cooling global demand for electric cars have forced some of the carmakers with the largest exposure to the U.S. market to book over $70 billion in writedowns.

Europe has also backtracked on emission targets. The continent's EV sales however rose by 21% in February, maintaining growth despite a slowing pace compared to most of last year.

EV registrations in the rest of the world grew by 78% to over 180,000 cars, as Chinese carmakers continued to expand their presence in Asian markets and Australia, as well as Europe, while fending off fierce competition domestically.