District details EV charging station plan and battery‑storage trial; board asks about maintenance costs

Kent Helms, the district's assistant director of facilities and planning, told the board the district is preparing to install EV chargers and expand charging infrastructure at the district service center and vehicle maintenance building.

Helms said the plan includes two locations: Location A on the east property will include one dual‑head rapid charger plus nine dual‑head Level‑2 chargers (9 dual heads supporting up to 18 Level‑2 vehicle connections), and Location B at the north side of the vehicle maintenance building will be infrastructure‑only now (trenches, distribution gear and transformers) to support a future dual‑head rapid charger plus six dual‑head Level‑2 chargers (supporting up to 12 vehicles). The district will purchase most Level‑2 chargers and install ChargePoint stations; earlier ChargePoint installations at district high schools were maintained by Southern California Edison on an arrangement where SCE billed users and performed maintenance, Helms said. The stations the district plans to buy will be owned and maintained by the district.

Helms also updated the board on the district's battery storage pilot: batteries and solar arrays installed at the four high schools and the district service center were intended to shave peak demand charges. The district has seen the system largely function as intended but identified heat‑related issues (batteries are sensitive to high temperatures), prompting larger shade structures over battery arrays. One remaining access/construction issue at Cathedral City High School was reported as expected to be resolved in the coming week; otherwise Helms said most battery sites are operating.

A board member asked how much the district expects to spend on maintenance for the charging stations; Helms said the district has not budgeted a specific maintenance figure and that, aside from vandalism or mechanical failure, routine maintenance needs are limited. Helms added the stations will be behind gated entries and that staff or employees with electric vehicles will access charging via a card account system.

Why it matters: The installations respond to state EV directives and district fleet purchases; owning the stations shifts maintenance and billing responsibility to the district rather than SCE for these new units. Battery storage affects the district's electric demand charges and operating costs.

Next steps: The presentation noted that a bid award for the chargers appears elsewhere on the board agenda for later action; staff said they will return with procurement and implementation details and cost projections.