autoevolution
 

Gustavo Henrique Ruffo

EV Expert
editor photo
Motoring writer since 1998, Gustavo wants to write relevant stories about cars and their shift to a sustainable future.

Got any tips? Feel free to contact him through his LinkedIn profile or Threema: R6F4J872.

Gustavo knew he would make a living with writing. The options were a career in law and journalism. After a quick research, he learned that law professions would help him earn ten times more than a reporter. Knowing how it feels to be broke, he took no effort in going to law school.

Having grown up reading anything about cars his father would put in his hands, he started driving late: Gustavo wanted to buy his first car before learning to drive. But life is funny, and his law internships demanded him to have a driver’s license so that he could go to courts driving company cars. That was the only fun he had in the world of legal affairs.

In the third year of college, dying of boredom, he took part in a journalism training course. Loving cars was what landed him his first job as a motoring writer. But he also fell in love with journalism and how powerful it can be when things are not right in the world.

The profession was as unstable and low-paying as predicted, which eventually became a problem. That made him try to go back to the legal world working as a trainee. Ironically, it was at Ford, where he missed his days as an automotive journalist. That drove him back to newsrooms and made journalism turn into a professional refuge: he could always count on it.

Accepting that the life of a reporter is full of ups and downs – aren’t them all? – Gustavo fully accepted he was a journalist. That helped him earn a few prizes, work in multiple places, visit almost every major auto show in the world, meet a bunch of nice people, and feed his family while working with what he loves. He thanks for that privilege every single day.

At autoevolution, he found the right environment for journalism at its best: it can be fun to have a purpose.
Tesla Telling Owners To Replace the Battery Pack's Pyro Fuse via BMS_u031 Warning
Tesla Telling Owners To Replace the Battery Pack's Pyro Fuse via BMS_u031 Warning

20 Jul 2023, 20:12 UTC · By: Gustavo Henrique Ruffo / I have been writing for a while already about Tesla codes that warn owners their battery packs, and their budgets are toast. Called BMS_u029 and BMS_u018, they are emerging in Model S units that get their MCUs recalled or replaced and also after so...

 
With a $20,000 Battery Pack, How Can Tesla Achieve $5,805.12 in Profits per Car?
With a $20,000 Battery Pack, How Can Tesla Achieve $5,805.12 in Profits per Car?

20 Jul 2023, 12:29 UTC · By: Gustavo Henrique Ruffo / In November 2022, I wrote about how difficult it was to believe Tesla had an average profit of $9,570 for every BEV it sold. These numbers emerged from the Q3 2022 earnings report. We have seen three more quarter reports go, and the doubt persists,...

 
Chinese EV Brands Are Facing a Hard Time in Europe, But Not Chinese EVs Themselves
Chinese EV Brands Are Facing a Hard Time in Europe, But Not Chinese EVs Themselves

20 Jul 2023, 07:26 UTC · By: Gustavo Henrique Ruffo / Tesla reached an impressive milestone in Europe in the first half of 2023: the Model Y became the best seller on that continent. Most of these vehicles came from China while the BEV maker was scaling up production at its German factory. Honda has j...

 
Organization's Push Toward Smaller BEVs May Actually Advocate for Hybrids and PHEVs
Organization's Push Toward Smaller BEVs May Actually Advocate for Hybrids and PHEVs

19 Jul 2023, 10:19 UTC · By: Gustavo Henrique Ruffo / Transport & Environment (T&E) does not like plug-in hybrid vehicles (PHEVs). It accused them more than once of greenwashing personal transportation and emitting more than automakers claim they do. That's controversial, considering car ...

 
Don't Be Deceived by Autonomous Cars Propaganda – You Drive Better Than Computers
Don't Be Deceived by Autonomous Cars Propaganda – You Drive Better Than Computers

18 Jul 2023, 10:10 UTC · By: Gustavo Henrique Ruffo / "If you torture the data long enough, it will confess to anything." This quote is attributed to Ronald H. Coase, a British economist who won the Nobel Prize in 1991. Coase corrected that in a letter to T. Dudley Wallace written in 1975. W...

 
The Hyundai IONIQ 5 N Proves That Automakers Still Think Only ICE Cars Can Be Fun
The Hyundai IONIQ 5 N Proves That Automakers Still Think Only ICE Cars Can Be Fun

15 Jul 2023, 08:26 UTC · By: Gustavo Henrique Ruffo / Hyundai has just presented its most powerful car ever at the Goodwood Festival of Speed. It is also the first battery electric vehicle (BEV) to wear the N badge. All these things should make the IONIQ 5 N a remarkable car. Yet, it is also the lates...

 
Audi Buying a Chinese Platform for Its Electric Cars Is a Sign of Despair
Audi Buying a Chinese Platform for Its Electric Cars Is a Sign of Despair

14 Jul 2023, 10:51 UTC · By: Gustavo Henrique Ruffo / You must have heard that Audi is considering buying an electric architecture from a Chinese company to produce battery electric vehicles (BEVs). Automobilwoche revealed that on July 9. Greg Kable brought more details on July 12: the German carmaker...

 
Triumph TR25 Concept Shows Us What the British Brand Could Be If Only BMW Cared More
Triumph TR25 Concept Shows Us What the British Brand Could Be If Only BMW Cared More

13 Jul 2023, 22:57 UTC · By: Gustavo Henrique Ruffo / The Triumph Motor Company was born in 1885 but only started making automobiles in 1923. Before that, it produced bicycles, which may explain its love for light vehicles. Leyland Motors bought it in 1960, and British Leyland eventually killed it in ...

 
Ariel Reveals Atom 4R at the 2023 Goodwood Festival of Speed
Ariel Reveals Atom 4R at the 2023 Goodwood Festival of Speed

13 Jul 2023, 11:50 UTC · By: Gustavo Henrique Ruffo / Anyone who enjoyed watching Top Gear before Jeremy Clarkson punched a producer will remember his epic review of the Ariel Atom. At the time, it started "at under £20,000" and delivered 300 bhp, thanks to its supercharged Honda Civic...

 
Governments Are Cheating To Make Battery Electric Semi Trucks Feasible, but Will It Work?
Governments Are Cheating To Make Battery Electric Semi Trucks Feasible, but Will It Work?

13 Jul 2023, 07:34 UTC · By: Gustavo Henrique Ruffo / A new regulation in Europe made me realize something that passed before my eyes in the past but did not receive the attention it deserved. In the US, Class 8 electric trucks can have a higher maximum gross weight than those powered by internal comb...

 
With Higher Sales Abroad, Tesla's Repairability Concerns Are Crossing the Pond
With Higher Sales Abroad, Tesla's Repairability Concerns Are Crossing the Pond

12 Jul 2023, 08:22 UTC · By: Gustavo Henrique Ruffo / Reaching more people can be a blessing or a curse. Ask anyone who suddenly became famous, and they will tell you more about that. That can also be seen in the automotive world. When a company achieves higher sales numbers, its issues are amplified ...

 
For the ICE Pope, Carmakers Don't Talk About Engines to Avoid Share Depreciation
For the ICE Pope, Carmakers Don't Talk About Engines to Avoid Share Depreciation

11 Jul 2023, 10:06 UTC · By: Gustavo Henrique Ruffo / Many have declared that internal combustion engines (ICEs) are dead – myself included. However, the latest edition of the Vienna Motor Symposium gave Fritz Indra the certainty that the game is far from lost. Considered the ICE Pope by his fan...

 
Renault's 'Horse' May Prove To Be Geely's Trojan Horse in New Markets
Renault's 'Horse' May Prove To Be Geely's Trojan Horse in New Markets

10 Jul 2023, 14:58 UTC · By: Gustavo Henrique Ruffo / In August 2021, the first rumors about Renault getting rid of its internal combustion engine (ICE) operations emerged. At first, the French company would sell all its factories and ICEs to Geely and buy what it needed from the Chinese automaker. Co...

 
NIO's 150-KWh Battery Pack Reveals Its Secrets Ahead of Schedule in New Owner's Manuals
NIO's 150-KWh Battery Pack Reveals Its Secrets Ahead of Schedule in New Owner's Manuals

7 Jul 2023, 18:43 UTC · By: Gustavo Henrique Ruffo / At the 2020 NIO Day – which was held in January 2021 – William Li said the ET7 would have a solid-state battery pack in 2022. Since then, we discovered that the cells would be made by Solid State Lion – a company that is now calle...

 
Stuck in the EV Shift, Carlos Tavares Reminds Us Money Does Not Hold a Passport
Stuck in the EV Shift, Carlos Tavares Reminds Us Money Does Not Hold a Passport

6 Jul 2023, 21:27 UTC · By: Gustavo Henrique Ruffo / Some episodes just show how detached politicians are from real life. Take Bruno Le Maire, the French Finance Minister. In an interview with BFM TV, Le Maire said Stellantis should produce the Peugeot e-208 in France out of "economic patriotism...

 
NamX Will Share More Details About Its Hydrogen Network at Goodwood's Future Lab
NamX Will Share More Details About Its Hydrogen Network at Goodwood's Future Lab

6 Jul 2023, 18:01 UTC · By: Gustavo Henrique Ruffo / When I first wrote about NamX and its SUV powered by fuel cells – the HUV – the startup said CapXs would provide hydrogen for its vehicles. These hydrogen capsules could be recharged at hydrogen stations, delivered to customers, or boug...

 
Stellantis' STLA Medium Platform Promises 435 Miles of Range, But Works at 400V
Stellantis' STLA Medium Platform Promises 435 Miles of Range, But Works at 400V

5 Jul 2023, 20:37 UTC · By: Gustavo Henrique Ruffo / In July 2021, the Stellantis EV Day revealed the four platforms the automaker would use in its electrification efforts: STLA Small, Medium, Large, and Frame. It also shared some technical parameters it would follow that we now know have changed a b...

 
BYD's Brazilian Plant and Ford's New German Factory Investor May Be Deeply Connected
BYD's Brazilian Plant and Ford's New German Factory Investor May Be Deeply Connected

5 Jul 2023, 11:11 UTC · By: Gustavo Henrique Ruffo / In November 2022, the first reports that BYD would buy a Ford factory in Brazil emerged. At the time, the Bahia government said the Chinese automaker would close the deal, but BYD rushed to say nothing was decided at that point. It took them eight ...

 
GM's New Purchase Shows How Concerned and Powerless Carmakers Are About Battery Packs
GM's New Purchase Shows How Concerned and Powerless Carmakers Are About Battery Packs

3 Jul 2023, 17:15 UTC · By: Gustavo Henrique Ruffo / If it were not for the EV1, we could say that General Motors arrived late to the electric car party. When it decided it wanted a piece of that market, things went very wrong with the Bolt EV and its massive battery pack recall. The automaker's...

 
Study Reveals How Many Millions of Chargers the U.S. Will Need to Go Fully Electric
Study Reveals How Many Millions of Chargers the U.S. Will Need to Go Fully Electric

30 Jun 2023, 09:57 UTC · By: Gustavo Henrique Ruffo / The push for people to buy battery electric vehicles (BEVs) is coming from all sources. Governments think that will help them achieve the Paris Agreement goal of being carbon neutral by 2050. Pushed by legislators, automakers also want customers to...

 

Stories by Gustavo Henrique Ruffo