Inglewood’s legendary Forum—best known as home to Magic Johnson’s “Showtime” Lakers dynasty of the 1980s—officially has a new name. And after inking a naming rights deal with South Korean automaker Kia, the newly branded Kia Forum is also joining the EV revolution.
As part of the deal, the Forum will install new electric vehicle charging stations around the facility that will be free to use during the events, Kia America vice president of marketing Russell Wager told ABC7.
Kia, which keeps its U.S. headquarters in Irvine, is a new entrée into the electric vehicle space, having launched U.S. sales of its EV6 crossover SUV in February. Since that launch, the automaker has sold 5,281 units of the EV6 nationally.
While details about Kia Forum’s new electric vehicle charging infrastructure remain scant, a Kia American spokesperson told dot.LA that the venue is planning to initially install 10 to 20 charging stations, with more being added at a later date.
While the type and brand of the chargers has yet to be disclosed, the Kia Forum should have plenty of options if it wants to award the contract to a local player. Southern California is rife with EV charging companies, with the likes of ChargeNet, Greenlots, EVCS and EVgo all vying to supply the vehicles of the future with the electrons they’ll need.
