Hawai'i motorists raced to gas stations to fill up last fall as prices at the pump fell below $3 a gallon for the first time in six months, according to a new report from the state.

Motorists bought 42.3 million gallons of gas in November, up 27 percent from the same month a year earlier, the state Department of Business and Economic Development reported in its monthly Energy Trend report. Gas prices fell about 20 percent during the month, according to AAA Hawaii. At the start of the month a gallon of regular on O'ahu was $3.29. By the end of November it had fallen to $2.60 a gallon. The bulk of the gasoline use — 64 percent — was on O'ahu.

Even with the spike in gas purchases during November, consumption through the first 11 months of the year fell 5.7 percent from the same period a year earlier, according to the report.

While gasoline consumption was rising in November, crude oil imports to Hawai'i were falling, the state reported. About 3.7 million barrels of crude were imported during the month, down 4.9 percent from November 2007. For the first 11 months of the year, crude oil imports were down 12 percent.

Jet fuel imports fell 100 percent in November from a year earlier, and were down 19 percent through the first 11 months of the year.

The energy trend report also noted 943,304 gasoline-powered vehicles registered in the state in November, down 1.4 percent from a year earlier. The number of vehicles classified as electric-powered, however, rose to 175 during the month, a 9.4 percent increase from the previous year.