After weeks of protests in China over strict measures put in place to control the spread of rising COVID-19 cases, the official government position is now easing its strict zero-COVID approach. That gives citizens more mobility and freedom to get back to more normal routines.

But Chinese electric vehicle (EV) stocks like Nio (NYSE: NIO) are plunging today anyway. Shares of Nio, rival XPeng (NYSE: XPEV), and electric scooter maker Niu Technologies (NASDAQ: NIU) sank between 8% and 15% in early Wednesday trading. As of 1:10 p.m. ET, Nio shares remained lower by 4.3%, while XPeng was down by 6.5% and Niu Technologies by 8.4% at that time.  

Why would presumably good news cause these stocks to tank today? One reason is investors have been anticipating an inevitable shift in China's policies after lockdowns have stifled the economy there. Shares of all three of these Chinese EV companies have jumped over the past month. XPeng and Niu have soared 37% and 47%, respectively, off their recent lows. 

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Source Fool.com