EV destroyed in NZ road blaze

A man and his two teenage children escaped unharmed from a fire which destroyed the EV they were in near Nelson on May 2.

Witnesses on the State Highway 6 route between Blenheim and Nelson described the fire to Stuff.

Chloe White, who took some photos of the fire, told Stuff she and her partner were travelling to Nelson when they saw “heaps of black smoke”.

Firefighters battled the fire for about 30 minutes, White saying she and her partner gave the family a lift to Nelson while they described some of the details prior to the fire.

“The car came up with a little warning light saying it needed mechanical attention, so they pulled over, and then saw smoke coming out of the back of the car,” White explained to Stuff.

She says they got out safely with most of their belongings.

Stuff later added more about the Nelson EV fire, saying it was a BMW i3 with a petrol range extender.