Bonanza meets The Jetsons: Brandie McNamee’s Clever Switch
In the windswept expanse of Antelope, Oregon, where the Bhagwan once cruised about in his fleet of Rolls Royces and the horizon stretches forever, Brandie McNamee splits her time between number crunching, community-building, and raising kids. An accountant married to the fifth-generation owner of a family ranch, Brandie works on side businesses, wrangles budgets, and cares for the kids while her husband runs the ranch, cares for his livestock, and battles invasive juniper. Her latest move has the not-so-nearby neighbors buzzing: she swapped her gas-guzzling Ford Expedition for – nope, not a second hand Rolls Royce – a leased Tesla Model Y, which in this corner of Oregon is almost as rare.
Every morning, Brandie transports her three kids and the neighboring ranch’s three kids to and from the nearest school bus stop, 18 miles away – that’s 36 miles a day, five days a week. Add a few weekend jaunts to town and her odometer quickly racks up 20,000 miles a year. “Gas costs were killing us, and the old car was falling apart,” she says, standing beside the Model Y’s seven-seat cabin. “At five hundred dollars a month just to fuel the Expedition that at best got 12 miles a gallon, and Larry spending nights and weekends fixing the car when his ranching equipment also needed attention, we needed a better plan.”
Enter their new 2024 Model Y, a sleek electric SUV from the Tesla store in Bend. “This vehicle is not just a car,” she grins. “It’s a money and time saving strategy with wheels.” Larry, a trained diesel mechanic who can diagnose a Cummins engine blindfolded, wasn’t sold at first. “A Tesla on our dirt road?” he scoffed. “It won’t hold up. Our driveway alone is 6 miles of dirt, and that’s 12 miles a day of a toy rattling apart.”
But when the dealership agreed to a 200-mile extended test drive, it gave the McNamees plenty of time to test the Tesla in the terrain around Antelope. They considered buying, but to reduce their risk they decided to lease, because the $440 monthly payment was less than what they were paying just to fuel the Expedition. A few weeks later, Larry began to come around, “It’s tougher than it looks.”
Cost Breakdown: Gas vs. Electric
It’s still early, but Brandie’s keeping track, and the savings are mounting. The Expedition averaged 12 miles per gallon, and at $3.80 per gallon in eastern Oregon, driving 20,000 miles cost $6,330. Toss in parts, filters, oil changes, and upkeep, and the savings hit about $8,330 a year. “Now we may actually be able to afford a family vacation,” she quips.
The Model Y goes 4 miles on a kWh of power, so 20,000 miles requires only 5,000 kWh. Charging at home with their $0.10 per kWh rate (thanks to Wasco Coop’s cheap rates) costs $500 a year. Add a few fast-charging stops during family trips ($0.38 per kWh), and fuel comes to about $600 annually. So now Brandie is driving a brand new car, and saving Larry a lot of time and headache on maintenance. “This is way better than the Expedition,” Brandie says, “It’s brought us peace of mind, more time to relax, and more money in our pockets. Plus it’s a lot more fun to drive.”
Range worries? Not an issue. “After I pick up and drive the kids home, I plug it into the welding outlet in the shop. By morning, it’s full – 330 miles, ready to go. Home charging covers 90% of our needs, and if we are traveling far, Tesla’s Superchargers are easy to reach in every direction. Fast charging’s pricier than home charging, but it’s still way cheaper than gas,” she says.
A Family Affair
Brandie’s Model Y is also a rolling playground. “The kids absolutely love it,” she says. Morning drives feature karaoke sessions or doodling on the home screen, and there’s also the infamous Emissions Testing Mode (a Tesla fart joke that never gets old). For camping, Brandie ordered a custom mattress that fits snugly in the back when the seats are folded down. “My husband was curious how Camp Mode would work and how much it would drain the battery, so we parked the car in front of the house and the kids camped out in it overnight when it got all the way down to 42 degrees. The battery only dropped 8%, and the car’s cabin remained at 70 degrees all night.”
Larry’s now a convert, sneaking off with the Tesla for part runs in town, to take kids to doctor appointments, or to run errands. “He’s worse than the kids,” Brandie teases. She knew Larry was sold when, in February 2025, his visiting cousin started ribbing him about his “$100k ranch car.” Larry set him straight: “They actually cost about the same as an average gas car. Besides, it’s leased. Brandie ran the numbers, and it’s a new car that’s costing us less than the old Expedition.” A long drive around the ranch later and Larry’s cousin was humbled – and shopping for his own EV.
“We didn’t mean to start a trend,” Brandie laughs, “but here we are. This car is just practical. Big family, long drives, rough roads – it handles everything and saves us stress and cash. I’m an accountant, not a car nut, but this thing’s a blast. It’s also supposed to be very, very safe in an accident, and with all the cows, antelope, mule deer, and elk wandering around out here, crash safety’s important.”
If you see a Tesla packed with singing kids kicking up dust in the sage brush near Antelope, give a nod – that’s almost definitely Brandie McNamee, proving that EVs can be right at home on the range.