Electric vehicle batteries complicate effort to put out flaming cargo ship

Lithium-ion batteries in electric vehicles have complicated firefighting on a cargo ship that was carrying 4,000 vehicles — including Porsches, Audis and Bentleys — across the Atlantic, Reuters reports.

Driving the news: On Monday, João Mendes Cabeças, captain of the nearest port in the island of Faial, told Lusa news agency "the fire has subsided in recent hours." He had told Reuters over the weekend the batteries were "keeping the fire alive", and that specialist equipment was required to extinguish it.

Catch up fast: The crew of 22 was evacuated by helicopter on Wednesday, leaving the ship adrift off Portugal's Azores islands.

Volkswagen owns the brands. The ship was bound from Germany to the auto-import Davisville port in North Kingstown, R.I.

• It wasn't clear whether the batteries sparked the fire.

Worth noting: The luxury inferno adds to dealers' supply-chain hell.

• Matt Farah, co-host of "The Smoking Tire" car podcast, tweeted: "I just got the call from my dealer. My car is now adrift, possibly on fire, in the middle of the ocean."