Construction Maison

I am not the “prepper” type. For the past 15 years, I have lived in large cities and rarely stray into the wilderness. The idea of going too far away from mobile phone coverage , let alone a stable electricity supply , does not seem like a relaxing holiday. So when I was sent a large, high- capacity battery pack and accompanying solar panel to review, I was not quite sure what to do with it. There is clearly demand for something like the River “mobile power station”, as its Chinese manufacturer EcoFlow describes it; the company raised more than $1m in a crowdfunding campaign earlier this year and the device is now sold in big- box retailers including Home Depot , Camping World and Amazon. Competitors such as Anker’s Powerhouse and Goal Zero’s Yeti show there is a growing market for a clean alternative to petrol- powered portable generators . A couple of things finally got me plugging in the River. One was moving from San Francisco to the less foggy climes of southern California, wh...