With one of the highest vehicle densities in France relative to its land area, and an almost total reliance on private cars, Martinique faces a considerable challenge in terms of sustainable mobility. The transition to electric vehicles presents a twofold challenge: reducing local greenhouse gas emissions and lowering the energy costs of a territory where 75 % of its electricity is still generated from fossil fuels. Significant progress has been made over the past five years, but structural obstacles remain.
A growing network of charging stations, but still insufficient
As of 2025, Martinique has approximately 211 public charging stations—a figure that has increased significantly—deployed by operators such as EZDrive, VoltDom, and TotalEnergies. The CTM has committed to the ambitious goal of 400 charging stations by 2030, as part of the RESOR project supported by the Network of Outermost Regions (RUP). The national ADVENIR program, led by Avere France and funded by EDF, offers a grant of up to 2,160 euros per charging station installed in Non-Interconnected Zones (ZNI), provided that smart management is implemented based on «sun hours.» The SMEM is also overseeing the master plan for the deployment of charging stations throughout the region.
Specific obstacles to overcome
The market share of electric vehicles remains modest in Martinique, at around 4.9 % in 2024, compared to more than 10 % in Réunion. Several factors explain this lag: an energy-intensive road network, significant elevation changes, near-constant use of air conditioning—which reduces the actual range of batteries—and the lack of a local recycling infrastructure for used batteries, which are sent back to production sites as-is. This raises the question of consistency between electric charging and the continued dominance of fossil fuels in the energy mix: as long as renewable energy does not dominate production, the carbon footprint of electric vehicles in Martinique remains open to improvement.
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