My ten year old Camry is worth about a third of the purchase price. My depreciation over 10 years is 2/3 of the original cost which is about $25K less than the original cost of a Tesla. The value of a 10 year old Tesla with the original battery is very little. So my depreciation cost is about $15,000 over 10 years or about $1,500 per year. I would hazard a guess that the difference in depreciation will fund the difference in ongoing energy costs and yield a nice bonus plus I invested the price differential and have reaped the interest earned over 10 years.
Your friends bought relatively trouble free cars, which reinforces their cognitive dissonance about paying a huge premium, but they are deluding themselves if they think they are saving money.
” but they are deluding themselves if they think they are saving money”
Saving money isn’t something these two worry about. They’d have a hard time spending what they have.