Disclaimer: I’m working with a concrete drive, and try to avoid salt. It can cause deterioration.
Ashes, sand, salt, calcium chloride, lawn fertilizer(!) - all gets tracked into the house. So if you want to try any of those, establish a station at the door to change from outside shoes to indoor slippers. (A good idea anyway nowadays.)
Otherwise, I’ve not found a good solution, except to make sure the snow is cleared off of the top of the ice (broom if necessary) and wait for a sunny day. Let sunshine penetrate to the underlying surface and warm it up. Then shovel the ice off.
My heavy shovel with a heavy steel edge peels up packed down show such as tire tracks. I see that some of the stores sell a tool specifically for this - something like a garden hoe with the blade parallel to the handle.
One thought: Highway departments pretreat roads. You might want to call your local highway department and see what they do.
Sounds like you are referring to the “toe cutter offener”, also sometimes called an edger (more specifically a straight one). I’ve used mine to loosen ice. I think they are often sold for digging or edging or cutting turf that is growing over the edge of the sidewalk (though sidewalk edgers are often round edged instead).
Looking at Home Depot’s website, turf edgers are rounded, but ice scrapers or ice choppers have a straight end. We had one of the ice choppers in the garage and I used it to loosen the thick ice in the shade in front of the garage.
A mudroom, in other words. Ideally, there should be a bench or seat where you can sit down to take off your snow boots, and a waterproof floor so the water doesn’t ruin the wood or carpet. And then it would be nice to have a place to hang your parka, hat and mittens. (And all of this is why I moved away from the snow belt as soon as I could. I hated the whole rigmarole.)
Really, I’d be interested in the results. Many cities now pretreat with a salt solution that helps keep the snow from turning to ice. It does work depending on many factors. Vancouver uses it quite effectively. Where I live in Minnesota, it’s not quite so effective as the temperatures can drop below the capability of salt to do the job. What’s nice about the saline is that it actually contains less salt than a salt-crystal spreader, so a bit easier on the environment.
If you’re able, you can also clear a long strip of the packed snow/ice, or a few separated patches, as close to the asphalt as possible. The dark asphalt will heat up faster, and conduct some of that heat under the adjacent packed snow/ice. That tends to loosen up that area, making it that much easier to shovel under it.
One good sunny day can make a big difference in how much build up you have, if you have the time to go out and do it.
Decades ago a “little old lady” down the street was trying to clear the snow from her home’s steps. I thought about offering to help, but my schedule was jammed for the day.
Then, as I was driving away I saw that she’d given up on her shovel and broom. She had boiled a big pot of water and poured it over the snow, thinking, I guess, that it would all melt away.
Thing is, it was single digit cold out. That evening I saw neighbors trying to help her chisel away the ice.
That is 15" wide to clear a walkway. If the OP is interested in heating a whole driveway, they would probably need a dozen of these.
BTW seller said it draws 50 watts per linear foot, so 1000 watts for this one, about what a mid-range space heater might use. So you are probably not going to use more than one of these on the same circuit.
As a homeowner with a north-facing steep driveway, this was my best option along with an ice chopper. If you use an ice chopper, always wear heavy boots or work boots to protect your toes.
Somewhere (maybe here) I read about people who bought a house and suffered sky high electricity bills even though they were going to ridiculous lengths to conserve. Then they found a switch in a closet somewhere that was turning the heated driveway on.