So an electric car that needs to get power from a coal fired power station with all of the associated transmission losses is more efficient overall and better for the environment than just burning the fossil fuel directly in the car with no transmission losses and infrastructure costs ? Seriously ? until we have carbon neutral electricity generation this will never happen, as it is we can;t use renewables to generate enough electricity for household use never mind transportation......... No I haven't read your link, i did the basic math in my head!
If we are going to get sensible vacuum cleaner regulations then I accept them, as others have mentioned for something that is used occasionally the environmental argument is negligible, but quality of product would be nice to have, speaking of which why aren't ALL of our domestic appliances regulated for built quality and sensible efficiency ?