Douglas Campbell

My grandfather had a  treadle powered grinding whetstone for axes and such.
The cylindrical stone rotated with a trough of water on the lower side below the axle.
The ax was held to sharpen on the upper side.
Cooling water helped avoid loss of  temper
The heavy stone was its own flywheel.
Diameter was maybe 1', 30'cm or so; width was maybe 10 cm or so.
It sadly disappeared from his barn.
I think in my lifetime he replaced the treadle with an electric motor.

Lead and creosote paint are big issues.
An acquaintance ran a salvaging building demolition business but it was not viable with labour costs in Canada.

It also depends whether caloric needs are being met by carbohydrates, or not.
Protein needs as a 'nutrient' are indeed low, 20 g sounds reasonable, but many current diets use protein as a major calorie source as well.
And as Jay et al. write, activity is a huge issue.

My grandfather used to pick his logging camp (ca. 1920) based upon the quality of the cook.
They used to eat ~10,000 cal per day sawing & chopping in the cold.  You need palatable, rich food to achieve that intake.
He also kept an iron grip until his death at 90.

Yes, road salt x salt spray x >50 freeze thaw per year; cars soak in liquid brine for months.
On frame pickups may last a bit longer than unibody.

Hi David;
The newer inverters can handle the output, but  would need a large  PV array to drive Level 2  @7200 W charging offgrid.

Current EV car batteries are ~~ 75 kWh capacity, so require ~~ 10 h of Level 2 @ 7200 W for complete charging; ~ 10%/h charge to the EV.

A sizable offgrid PV array of 7000 W nominal  might take ~ 10 h of full sun to fully charge an EV battery.

In contrast, Level 1 charging at ~1500 W can often run for ~ 5 h/day from an 7000 W offgrid PV array, in parallel with domestic usage, giving about 2% charge/h or 10% day to the EV.

This all comes from my experience.
At home, with grid tie solar; Level 2 charging generally outruns our instantaneous PV (11400 kW nominal).
At an offgrid place (6700 kW nominal PV) we use Level 1 to gain ~ 10% EV charge daily, once the domestic battery bank is full.

A large offgrid battery bank is ~ 30 kWh capacity, so charging the 75 kWh car from an offgrid  battery bank would drain it in less than a day, but it is useful to even out cloudy patches etc. during charges.

This comes down to use cases, adjusting from 'Drive to the gas station on empty and get 600 km of range for ~$75'.
~ 5 h of Level 1 is sufficient for most users, most days, to get back  ~ 40 km or so.
~ 10 h of Level 2 gives the convenience of a 'fill up' over night or in a day, ~ 400 km or so.
Level 3 is (often) expensive but only used on road trips, ~ 300 km in ~ 30 min or so.
Pee break plus snacks.

Some people drive 100's of km a day and have no /limited charging infrastructure, and large bladders :)
But most people do not.
cheers Doug

Barriers to starting:
-we have a high efficiency woodstove installed;
-good access to hardwood cordwood; less effective access to small stuff
-intimidated by evolving abbreviations & terminology (J-tube, K-tube, riser, bell...);  a pegged glossary/wikidictionary would help
-enjoy view of flames and intimidated by options to install a window
-confusion over naming & accessibility of supplies (refractory brick, clay for cob, insulation etc.)
-until recently, limited time; cob construction looks fun in timelapse youtube, not sure about irl

I may still try something next spring.

Interesting discussion.
I charge my EV at home with a Level 2 240V, powered by grid-tied solar (87% of our total household consumption is solar over the year).
Off grid, daytime solar can support Level 1 120V, drawing about 1500 W.  Level 1 is slow, so offgrid feasibility depends upon use-case.
The fix-it-yourself arguments for locally common older cars are strong, but going forward both EV & ICE cars are becoming complicated.
And in my climate, most consumer vehicles older than 15 y rust out including, sadly, my previous Honda CRV.

Thumbs up for a Honda Fit/Jazz, one of our previous favourite cars, although a bit dinky in backroad snow.
I was tempted by the Chev Silverado EV WT, or Ford Lightning F150; quiet power stations on wheels for remote use, but mileage per kW is poor and charging is long.

I am concerned about (planned?) obsolescence of overly complex software.
The software in my Toyota bZ4x ev has a bug that turned off the window defroster.
The software update may mean I will need a new physical back up cam b/c original cam will be incompatible....
Ummmm.  OK....
Good car except for the software and silly electronics.

I have a ToyotaBZ4x (= Subaru Solterra).
Great ground clearance, good on logging roads.
Good rear cargo room with seats down.
Charging is a bit slow for an ev.
There are multiple cool ev available in Europe.

I have the same problems, and no good solution.
If even a patch of panel is cleared the solar heating of the dark panel patch will spread melting and sometimes cause snow to slide off; panels only achieve ~~20% PV conversion, so ~~80% of the incident solar energy is potentially available as heat, once the snow reflection is broken.

Panel makers could include circuitry to run the panel backwards to dump some heat, but snow cover is a niche market; I suspect a cunning engineer could set up such a system, but it might void warranties.
I wonder about melting tape; depending upon temperature it might create ice pack that is more problematic than snow.
Brushing can damage or scratch the panels.
Even 60 degree angle does not reliably shed snow in my climate.
I did a little googling on silicone 'RainEx', but worry it could dissolve silicone sealants or cause a buildup of film.