This week, Governor Andrew Cuomo announced a new electric-vehicle campaign that includes the installation of charging stations, incentives for employers to encourage employees to drive electric vehicles, and extensive public education and outreach.

Transportation accounts for nearly 40 percent of greenhouse gas emissions in New York State, according to a release from the governor’s office.

The increased use of electric vehicles is to help the state achieve its goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions 40 percent by 2030. The campaign, which supports the Governor’s Charge NY initiative, will be overseen by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority.

Work on the projects will start right away and will include the installation of 450 charging stations across the state. Of these, approximately 150 will be located at workplaces throughout New York, supporting Cuomo’s State of the State proposal for the construction of 500 new workplace charging stations. The units will be installed in Rochester, Syracuse, Buffalo, Utica, Albany, the Hudson Valley, Westchester County, New York City, and Long Island.

Last month, the Knox Town Board declined to accept a $11,835 grant from the state’s Department of Environmental Conservation that, with 20 percent of in-kind services from the town, would have set up in Knox a station for charging two vehicles at a time.

Additional projects in this campaign include:

— Working with New York City-area public and private employers to create an incentive program specifically for their employees to encourage them to buy electric vehicles;

— Conducting outreach to employers statewide to educate them on the benefits of providing workplace charging stations for their employees;

— Hosting public test drive and ride events;

— Providing innovative financing to make installing charging stations more economically viable for site owners; and

— Developing tourism routes specifically for electric vehicle owners that will highlight charging station locations in the Mid-Hudson Valley, including in the Catskills.

In addition, Rochester will launch a pilot to become an electric vehicle model city. The goal is to demonstrate how developing an electric vehicle ecosystem can increase electric-vehicle adoption and prepare a community for long-term electric vehicle growth.

State, city, and community leaders worked together to identify actions to support Rochester’s evolution into an electric vehicle model city, including adding electric vehicles to the city fleet, installing charging stations, creating a speakers’ bureau for community events, and training for local dealerships.

The projects will be managed by three contractors — EV Connect, Energetics, and Calstart — for a total of $4.8 million. Each contractor is responsible for different elements at specific locations, though all will be installing charging stations and administering marketing and outreach programs.

Last fall, the governor announced $3 million for rebates through the Environmental Protection Fund for municipalities to purchase or lease zero-emission vehicles, such as battery electric and hydrogen vehicles, for their fleets. Over the summer, Sustainable Hudson Valley kicked off its Drive Electric Hudson Valley campaign to educate consumers about electric vehicles, which was supported by NYSERDA.

The state has also revised regulations to clarify charging-station ownership rules, and supported research and demonstration projects on new plug-in electric car technologies and policies. The New York Power Authority has invited municipalities to tap into a master contract that offers better pricing for the supply, installation, and maintenance of charging stations.

Another $3 million is available to help eligible municipalities and rural electricity cooperatives purchase electric vehicles for use in their municipal use fleets.

More than 1,600 electric vehicle charging stations have already been installed toward Charge NY’s goal of 3,000 charging stations by 2018.

Reforming the Energy Vision is to stimulate investment in clean technologies like solar, wind, and energy efficiency with the goal of generating half of the state’s electricity needs from renewable energy by 2030. Already, according to the governor’s office release, REV has driven a nearly 800 percent growth in the statewide solar market; enabled over 105,000 low-income households to permanently cut their energy bills with energy efficiency; and created thousands of jobs in manufacturing, engineering, and other clean tech sectors.