Warning from EV owner caught with low charge in bushfire - ABC News & Headlines – Australian Broadcasting Corporation

This fast charger was a lifesaving stop for holidaymaker Nigel Raynard in his rented EV on a trip to WA in January 2026. (Supplied: Nigel Raynard)

An experienced EV driver found himself in a bushfire zone with a dwindling battery.

Nigel Raynard wants new EV owners to learn from his mistake.

Fire authorities want all car owners in rural and regional areas to have their vehicles fuelled up during the bushfire season.

Earlier this year, experienced EV owner Nigel Raynard found himself in a town under bushfire evacuation orders with less than 15 per cent charge in his car battery.

The owner of the EV chauffeur service in northern New South Wales was on holiday in January and found himself in the path of the Boddington fire, south of Perth.

"The Tesla was telling me to turn around," he said.

"I was bull-headed thinking, 'No, I'll be fine', but if the software tells you to go a different way, that's what you should do."

Mr Raynard arrived at a town with an EV charger, but it was under evacuation orders and police were reluctant to let him in.

On the other side of this police blockade was the EV charger the Raynard family needed to evacuate from the fire, but getting to it involved tense negotiations. (Supplied: Taj Raynard)

"I tried to explain to the police officer, 'Sorry to ask, but we have to go into that town', and he was definitely not happy about that," he said.

"My car was saying the charger was active, but he was telling me the power was out."

The police finally let Mr Raynard pass the blockade and use the fast charger, where he spent 15 minutes getting the power he needed.

The experience has left him worried that new EV owners might find themselves in a similar predicament.

"Allow a little more battery than you need and have a back-up plan," Mr Raynard said.

"New owners need to be educated because unlike petrol/diesel, you aren't going to have a stop in every town."

Emma Sutcliffe lost her own EV to bushfire in Victoria, which burned the car but left the battery pack intact.

"Any car in a bushfire is going to burn, depending on the severity of the bushfire," she said.

"It is not more likely to burn just because it has a lithium-ion battery in it."

Emma Sutcliffe left her EV to fight fires in Victoria at Little River in December 2018 but returned to find it burnt. (Supplied: EV FireSafe)

Ms Sutcliffe is the CEO of EV FireSafe, an Australian company funded by the Department of Defence to research electric vehicle high-voltage battery fires and emergency response.

She said EVs were "no more dangerous or likely to catch fire than a petrol or diesel car".

"But there is post-incident fire risk," she said.

"Even if the car looks completely burnt out, that battery can catch fire days, weeks, even months later.

"We have seen a number of electric vehicles go through a bushfire and survive without that battery pack going into thermal runaway."

Thermal runaway is an out-of-control chemical chain reaction that can happen inside a lithium-ion battery and can lead to fire.

There have been 15 verified electric vehicle fires in Australia.

Ms Sutcliffe said it was more common to see a vehicle burnt out but the battery pack still intact.

"In most electric vehicles, the battery pack is the strongest part of the vehicle," she said.

EV popularity in Australia is increasing.

According to the Electric Vehicle Council, there are now more than 684,000 electric vehicles, including hybrids, on the nation's roads.

At the end of August, there were more than 504,000 fully electric vehicles, up from 310,000 in August 2025.

The NSW Rural Fire Service is more concerned about how people are going to get out of an area than what kind of car they are driving.

The town of Williams was the last option for charging for the Raynard family, but the town was under an evacuation order. (Supplied: Nigel Raynard)

"We know that around the Christmas period, many people are going to start to consider travelling and camping, so ask [yourself], 'What am I going to do if you go into a camp area? Is there enough power in the vehicle to get me somewhere safe or a location where I can power it?'" Superintendent Ben Shepherd said.

"The same goes for those with petrol/diesel cars, thinking about what is needed to move out of an area. It's just a different kind of understanding about where to charge."

Ms Sutcliffe said some EV brands had features that could prove critical in a bushfire.

The Raynards said their EV's air filtration system helped them breath easier as they evacuated from the Boddington fires. (Suplied: Taj Raynard)

"In 2019, people with respiratory trouble were using Teslas to sit in whilst the air was smoky," she said.

"They have very good air filters, and the car can sit for a very long period just with the filters running and not use too much power in the process."

Ms Sutcliffe said other EVs could double as a power source.

"If the power is out during a bushfire period, think of the car as a power station on wheels," she said.

"In Japan, the Nissan Leaf is commonly used to go into disaster-affected areas to provide dispatchable power. You can plug in phones and equipment and lighting."

Mr Raynard said he would always choose an EV over a combustible engine.

"With an EV, you wake up each morning with it fully charged; no need to store dangerous flammable liquids or travel from home to fill up," he said.