This is the shocking moment a brand-new electric car explodes into flames after a loose brick tipped into the air and pierced the bottom of a battery.

The video was captured in a street in China where local media said that the wheel had loosened a flagstone in the street, which had then tipped upwards and struck the bottom of the vehicle in an incident on August 18.

As the video shows, it appears to be a pedestrian zone.

The car emerges from what is probably a garage when the paving stone tilts and strikes the bottom of the vehicle, catapulting it into the air.

The man driving and a female passenger then leap out, and both get on their phones to call for help before the flames from the battery unexpectedly die down before help arrives.

Eyewitnesses said it was less than 25 seconds before the flame suddenly erupted from under the car and vanished, and others noted that the vehicle was a Changan Deep Blue SL03.

Local car expert Deng Chenghao said: 'It appears that the sharp corners of the stone tore the bottom of the battery and pierced the cells, which then caught fire.

'However, even though the damage to the bottom plate and the battery was so severe that two batteries caught fire, there was never any danger to the driver. Thanks to many fireproof safety options, the blaze extinguished itself 25 seconds after it started.'

Local media criticised the council for failing to maintain the streets properly, causing the accident, and praised the local vehicle maker. One local newspaper pointed out that since the launch of the Deep Blue brand, more than 200,000 vehicles have maintained a record of zero accidents or fires caused by batteries.

Changan Automobile Co. is one of China's oldest companies. It was founded in 1862 as a fish pie factory and is now a Chinese state-owned automobile manufacturer headquartered in the Jiangbei district of Chongqing municipality.