Self-reliance starts with your own power
Food, water and tools you can store. Power you have to make. Here's how a self-sufficient home does it.
Self-reliant people plan for the day the grid, the gas station and the store all go quiet at once. Most of that plan sits on a shelf: water, food, first aid, tools. Power is different. You can't stack a week of electricity in the garage, and a generator only lasts as long as its fuel.
The three pieces
- Make it. A heavy-timber carport with a solar roof turns sunlight into power every day, outage or not, when it's built with backup equipment.
- Store it. An electric truck is the battery. A full-size electric pickup holds about 100 to 200 kWh. A typical wall-mounted home battery holds around 13.5 kWh.
- Use it. A two-way (bidirectional) charger and a transfer switch let the truck run the house, safely cut off from the grid.
What it covers when the grid goes down
The average U.S. home uses about 29 kWh a day (U.S. Energy Information Administration, 2024). A full truck covers about three to seven days of normal living, and much longer on essentials: fridge, freezer, well pump, lights, fans and internet. Every sunny day the roof puts around 30 kWh back.
Prepping, minus the gas cans
Prepping usually means stockpiling. Power is the one supply you can make instead of stockpile. Pair the carport with the basics FEMA's Ready.gov recommends, including one gallon of water per person per day for several days, and the house can ride out a long outage without leaving the driveway.
A self-sufficient home checklist
- Power: solar roof, electric truck, two-way charger, transfer switch.
- Water: stored water, plus power for the well pump if you have one.
- Food: a stocked pantry, and a fridge and freezer that stay on.
- Heat or cooling: know which loads the truck can carry and for how long.
- Communication: charged phones, internet on backup, a battery or hand-crank radio.
- A way out: a 4x4 that's already full when it's time to go.
Stay or go
Self-reliance covers both plans. Staying home is bugging in. Leaving with what you need is bugging out. The same truck handles both. Bug out vs. bug in →
Self-reliance questions
What does self-reliance mean for a home?
Being able to keep the essentials running on your own: water, food cold, lights, heat or fans, and a way to communicate, without waiting on the grid or a gas station. Power is the piece that keeps everything else working.
Is a solar carport enough to be self-sufficient?
For power, it's a big step. The solar roof makes the energy, an electric truck stores it, and a two-way charger sends it to the house. It doesn't replace water, food and medical supplies, which you still keep on hand.
How long can I run my house this way?
The average U.S. home uses about 29 kWh a day. A full-size electric truck holds roughly 100 to 200 kWh, which is about three to seven days of normal use and much longer on essentials. On sunny days the carport adds around 30 kWh back.
Do I need a bunker?
No. The cartoon is a joke. Mostly. A house that stays lit and a truck that's always charged covers most of what people mean by bugging in.
Ready when the lights go out
Tell us about your place and what you drive. We'll tell you straight what a Bugging Out carport would do for you.