Car gutted after battery sparks fire in Kerikeri

A volunteer firefighter cools an electric car which caught fire at Rangitane, near Kerikeri, on Tuesday. Photo / Peter de Graaf

A battery fire in an electric car gutted the vehicle and spread into roadside vegetation near Kerikeri yesterday.

The blaze started just after 2pm yesterday on Rangitane Rd, just north of town.

It appeared the driver of the compact electric vehicle managed to pull off the road and onto a driveway before the blaze fully took hold.

The flames then spread through about 20m of roadside grass and into a hedgerow.

The vegetation fire was quickly extinguished by volunteers from the Kerikeri Fire Brigade.

Fire chief Les Wasson said it appeared the fire had started from a battery which had been placed on the back seat, not the car's lithium batteries.

A volunteer firefighter cools an electric car which caught fire at Rangitane, near Kerikeri, on Tuesday. Photo / Peter de Graaf

The cause was not clear but it was possible the battery had short-circuited or overheated.

However, once the fire spread the car's lithium batteries had become very hot. A large volume of water was required to cool them to a safe temperature.

Firefighters spent more than two hours at the scene, only returning to the station around 4.30pm.