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A Chevrolet Equinox EV burst into flames on a major Boston highway during the morning commute.
The blaze began at 7am and took two hours to put out, after which local officials reopened lanes, according to CBS News.
Electric cars are much less likely to catch on fire than gas-powered cars, Kelley Blue Book reports. Fire departments are also now more skilled at putting them out. In this incident, the firefighters may have used fire retardant foam to contain the blaze based on photos of the event.
Driver Brian Alba is "very apologetic for the traffic fiasco," he tells WBZ-TV, just hours after the fire. Luckily, no one was injured, including Alba's 90-year-old grandfather who was in the car. Alba was taking him to get an operation and says the first thing he did was unbuckle his grandfather's seatbelt so they could exit the vehicle.
The incident is still under investigation. Alba's theory on what happened is that a piece of road debris punctured the Equinox EV's battery, igniting a fire. Several other vehicles hit debris that morning as well, CBS News reports. We've reached out to General Motors for more information and will update this story if we hear back.
"I didn't have enough time to react, or swerve safely to avoid the debris," Alba said. "It was a pretty harrowing experience, I would say."
The Chevrolet Equinox EV is one of the most affordable electric cars available in the US today, starting just over $33,000 with up to 319 miles of range. It earned top marks from our car reviewer, and it qualifies for the $7,500 federal tax credit (until it goes away on September 30, that is.)