[kolp]

I follow the news in France, but the reason people were scrambling to fill their cars had nothing to do with an energy crisis.

The first wave of "people scrambling to fill their cars" was caused by union strikes at French refineries in October, leading to supply shortages at the pumps.

The second wave was caused by people scrambling to fill up their cars at a lower price per litre, before the government "subsidy" on fuel was reduced in mid-November. Whatever one might think of people who will sit in a traffic queue for several hours to save €10 at the pump, it has nothing to do with an energy crisis.

[maigret]

Why does the reason matter? The fact is that people want to present combustion engines as more robust while they‘re clearly not. France can’t produce oil on its own territory much.

[rmbyrro]

It matters for consumer behavior, I think.

In my opinion, the current energy crisis in France is more damning for the vehicle electrification plans than what you mentioned for gas cars.

One thing is the government telling you to buy EVs and then totally failing to deliver the "E" of the equation.

Another thing is an event caused by third-parties.