NEW YORK – Leaders of eight large, coastal U.S. states, including California and New York, are expected to roll out more details of a plan aimed at spurring sales of 3.3 million "zero emission vehicles" by 2025 through a combination of consumer incentives and regulatory action, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal.

The plan will be light on specific details, which will be worked out by the individual states in the alliance — California, Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island and Vermont. Together these states account for about 28% of the U.S. auto market, according to a draft of the plan.

The sales goal is ambitious in light of current slack demand for electric vehicles. Currently, there are about 200,000 battery electric cars, plug-in hybrids and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles on the road in the United States. About half of those cars are on the road in the eight states allied behind the "ZEV Action Plan."

Major automakers are offering more plug-in models, mainly to meet regulatory mandates in California and other markets. But they are for the most part limited volume offerings that generate losses.

Among the actions outlined in the eight-state alliance's plan are efforts to promote installation of recharging stations at workplaces; expanding both cash and noncash incentives for consumers to buy electric cars; pushing dealers to more aggressively promote electric cars; and removing regulatory barriers to installation of charging stations.

Governors of the eight states first agreed to collaborate in efforts to expand electric vehicle sales in October 2013. The rollout of the states' plans for boosting electric vehicle demand comes as the Obama administration is expected to unveil a new climate change initiative with rules designed to allow states more flexibility to meet targets for reducing carbon emissions.