Electric vehicle (EV) sales continue to set records, a positive trend for automakers Mercedes-Benz and Hyundai, which have Alabama-built EVs rolling off assembly lines in Tuscaloosa and Montgomery.

American consumers purchased more than 300,000 battery-powered vehicles (BEV) in the third quarter of 2023 to set a new sales record, according to a report by Kelley Blue Book. That’s up from the previous record of 298,000 EVs, set in the second quarter of this year, and reflects a nearly 50 percent increase from the third quarter of 2022.

In addition, the average cost of a new EV dropped from $65,000 a year ago got $50,683 now. That’s a decline of about 20 percent.