Let me try restarting this conversation because IMO it’s off the rails of my point and has nothing to do with what “my friends” think.
Most people do not buy a new car without looking at options. When people do care, they’ll ask Google what the best EVs are of XYZ year and go try some cars out. They’re not going to “just go buy a Tesla because that’s the name they’ve associated with EVs.”
Most people are also not buying EVs at this point.
When this average people do care and they start seriously looking at buying an EV, “Tesla” having the brand Tesla is not going to help them very much, if at all.
Put differently, any advantage Tesla has exists with the average Joe because the average Joe don’t have skin in the game. “Tesla” may have word association with “EV”, but word association alone isn’t enough to justify a 30, 40, 50, etc thousand dollar purchase.