Customer Success Story: Helix Water District Builds a Model EV Charging Hub for Public Fleets

Overview

Helix Water District has transformed its operations center in San Diego County into one of California’s most advanced electric fleet charging hubs—setting a blueprint for public agencies navigating the Advanced Clean Fleets Regulation.

Backed by over $10.2 million in grants and rebates, the $11 million project demonstrates how public-sector fleets can electrify at scale—without compromising operational readiness or increasing costs.

The Challenge

Public agencies face mounting pressure to transition to zero-emission fleets while maintaining critical operations. For Helix, that meant:

• Supporting a 100-vehicle mixed fleet (light-, medium-, and heavy-duty)
• Maintaining 24/7 emergency response readiness
• Avoiding additional staff or vehicles
• Managing energy costs through off-peak charging strategies

At the same time, infrastructure—not vehicles—emerged as the biggest barrier to compliance.

“When we evaluated the regulation, we discovered that finding available vehicles wasn’t the only challenge—the infrastructure was, too. We had to protect our water rates and the 279,000 people we serve while figuring out how to comply.”
— Kathleen Coates Hedberg, Board President, Helix Water District

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The Solution

Helix designed and deployed a 5.9 MW charging ecosystem—equivalent to powering 3,000–5,000 homes—built for scalability, uptime, and operational efficiency.

Autel Energy Deployment
Autel Energy played a key role in delivering high-performance DC charging:

• 17 × MaxiCharger DC Compact
• 40 kW per unit
• Simultaneous charging for 2 vehicles

• 4 × MaxiCharger DC HiPower dispensers
• 320 kW per dispenser
• Simultaneous charging for 2 vehicles
• 2 × 640 kW power cabinets, supporting distributed high-power charging architecture

This mix enables Helix to support everything from light-duty vehicles to heavy-duty trucks within a unified charging environment.

Infrastructure at Scale

• 87 total chargers (40 kW – 640 kW range)
• 8 rapid chargers delivering up to 200 miles in ~10 minutes
• 2-circuit architecture for operational redundancy

A Collaborative Ecosystem

Delivering a project of this scale required close coordination across funding agencies, utilities, engineering firms, and technology providers:

• Funding & Policy Support:
  SDG&E, San Diego County Air Pollution Control District, California Energy Commission
• Engineering & Infrastructure Delivery:
  Black & Veatch, Par West, CBSI
• Software & Optimization:
  BetterFleet
• Program & Deployment Support:
  Sector Rise

Results & Impact

Operational Efficiency

• 0 additional staff required to manage charging
• Intelligent software dynamically prioritizes vehicles based on schedule and energy cost

Cost Savings

• EV fuel costs reduced to ~20% of gas/diesel equivalent

“The data from our current fleet show that fuel costs for an electric vehicle are one-fifth the fuel costs of a gas or diesel vehicle.”
— Kevin Miller, Operations Director, Helix Water District

• Fully funded upfront deployment avoided higher phased costs

Scalability & Collaboration

• Infrastructure designed for shared use across neighboring agencies
• Automated cost allocation enables multi-agency utilization

Our Perspective

“Helix is a powerful example of what happens when infrastructure is designed around real operational needs—not theoretical models. By combining distributed high-power architecture with flexible DC charging, they’ve created a system that scales with demand while maintaining uptime and efficiency. This is exactly the kind of blueprint public agencies need as electrification accelerates.”
— Shane Long, CTO, Autel Energy North America

A Blueprint for the Future

Rather than simply complying with regulation, Helix has defined a new standard for public-sector electrification—one that balances reliability, cost efficiency, scalability, and inter-agency collaboration. Congratulations!