The demand for electric and hybrid cars alike are at an all-time high in the used car industry, resulting in what looks to be a greener future.

Second hand electric car sale alone have risen a staggering 33.8% in the first quarter of the year, the highest increase on record for demand by fuel type. However, they still have a mountain to climb as this only represents 2,927 of the 2 million vehicle purchases made since January.

Here are a few stats on where sales stand in Q1:

• 98.7% of market share is from the sales of petrol and diesel cars
• Used Diesel cars sales increased by 2%
• Used Petrol cars sales decreased by 9.7%
• 98% of all new cars sold are still petrol and diesel
• New diesel car sales in March are down by 37% in comparison to the previous year.

“Industry shares the vision of a future with zero emission transport, but there is no doubt that the internal combustion engine has a role to play on the journey” – CEO of SMMT Mike Hawes.

The industry address this by investing billions into both research and development of alternate methods to fuel vehicles alongside improving current petrol and diesel vehicles to become greener.

With the UK governments crackdown on older diesel vehicles with surcharges on road tax, company car tax, parking and more, the pressure seems to be on to buy newer cars that meet the requirements of Euro 6 (mandatory for cars to comply with since September 2015). Germany, on the other hand, are taking a much more direct approach for cleaner air by giving cites the right to ban diesels outright.

One thing is for sure, petrol and diesel still dominate the market share for new and used cars at present whilst hybrids and electrics continue to try and gain momentum into the scene.