Police were informed of the incident at about 3:12pm.
Firefighters from Chalong Municipality soon arrived at the scene, in front of the SuperCheap store near Wat Chalong, and doused the flames.
By that time, however, the vehicle, a Black Toyota Alpass registered in Bangkok, had suffered extensive damage from the fire.
Two people were in the van at the time. Both escaped the vehicle unharmed.
The driver explained that he was driving along when he heard a loud bang that seemed to have come from the air-conditioning unit in the van.
He immediately pulled over and got out of the van, and called emergency services, the driver said.
The report by Chalong Police noted that the cause of teh fire was “unknown”, and still under investigation.