There are many reasons to buy an EV. You want to reduce pollution, you want lower maintenance and fuel costs, you want to drive without the roar of an engine following you everywhere you go.

Having owned a 2019 Nissan Leaf for a few months, I can appreciate many of those things. But what I love most about owning an electric car is the ability to do one-pedal driving. I honestly don't know how I did without it for so long.

Conversely, one of the worst things about driving an electric car is the reduced range of the EV in cold weather. But that's a story for another time.

For readers unfamiliar with one-pedal driving, the name is almost literal. When the one-pedal mode is activated, the gas pedal becomes more or less a gas pedal and a brake. Put your foot down and the car goes faster; take your foot off and it slows down.

Of course, all cars slow down when you take your foot off the gas pedal. This is because the laws of motion do not allow it to continue indefinitely. But slowing a car down in this way is a fairly slow process, and this is usually where the brake pedal comes in. This is to avoid getting caught in the flow of oncoming traffic past a red light.

Single-pedal driving uses the car's regenerative braking function to increase deceleration when the accelerator pedal is released. It is not as severe as using the brakes, but still very noticeable. Once you learn the correct timing, you won't even have to think about using the brakes except in an emergency.

I own a 2019 Nissan Leaf, one of the few one-pedal cars available, and I absolutely love using the e-Pedal as Nissan has named it. Just as I love driving an automatic car because I don't have to worry about using the clutch, with the e-Pedal my right foot barely has to move.

Importantly, pedal drive does not render the brake pedal ineffective, nor does it completely replace it. In the event of an emergency, the driver still needs to step on the brake. The one-pedal driving mode allows for faster deceleration compared to normal driving, but it is far from enough to bring the car to a complete stop in a hurry.

I tested this with my foot completely off the gas pedal at 20 mph and it did not stop for 10-15 feet. When I hit the brakes, it stopped almost immediately. So if someone runs out into the road or the car in front of you decides it needs to stop suddenly, your right foot should be ready to move.

As far as I know, one-pedal driving is not particularly common, but it doesn't help that automakers tend not to advertise the feature. This includes Tesla. Tesla usually can't stop hyping up all the features that their vehicle models offer.

Nissan's e-Pedal automatically (and quite rigorously) comes to a complete stop and holds the car in place. Tesla also offers a one-pedal driving mode, which has been well received for giving the driver much more control over deceleration.

Cars such as the Chevrolet Volt and Jaguar I-Pace also offer one-pedal driving to varying degrees, and recent models can come to a complete stop and hold the car in place.

Speaking of popular and well-known electric cars with one-pedal driving, that's your lot. Or it is, as far as I know, and it is unclear why EV manufacturers have not tried to take advantage of this feature.

It could be because there is no consumer demand for it, or it could be because automakers want their electric vehicles to be as similar as possible to their gasoline-powered counterparts. Obviously, the reliance on regenerative braking means that gas-powered vehicles cannot be equipped with it, nor is it something that many people would consider.

I once had this conversation with my brother. The guy I work with (at a car dealership) said that the Leaf only has one pedal, and my brother wanted to know if that was true. Obviously, it has two pedals, an accelerator pedal and a brake pedal. And it also has a foot-operated parking brake, but that doesn't count.

It is very illegal to sell a car without a brake pedal, either in the US or here in the UK.

Heck, I only knew about it because I went to the 2018 Leaf launch and was able to test drive one myself. If you go to the Leaf page on Nissan's website, the only mention of the e-Pedal is a small sentence in the model comparison section. The upcoming Nissan Ariya, which will also feature e-Pedal, does not even mention it. [I'm not sure if I'm a fan of the e-Pedal because it really made driving the Leaf a pleasure. It took me a little while to get used to it, but after driving around quite a bit in my own car, I managed to get the hang of it.

Knowing when to start easing off the gas pedal and how much is basically second nature now. This means that I can slowly roll along until I come to a complete stop and regain what little power the regenerative braking exerts without worrying about where my feet are.

Furthermore, since the e-Pedal does not use brake pads, it will be quite some time before you have to worry about pad wear.

Of course, the e-Pedal has also brought out some bad habits in my driving: several times I forgot to turn the e-Pedal on, and it took me a second to realize that I wasn't slowing down as much as normal.

At least I never forgot how to brake thanks to the e-Pedal; after nearly 15 years of driving, that reflex has become ingrained in my brain. I made sure of that earlier this week when some idiot backed into the road without a second glance and came right into my path.

I have no intention of switching cars anytime soon, and if my current situation were any indication, I would certainly buy another EV. However, it is very hard to say goodbye to one-pedal driving. And not just because I have to get used to driving without one pedal again. It may not be the biggest selling point about the car, but it is definitely the biggest advantage of switching to an electric vehicle.

So electric car manufacturers take note. This guy wants all cars to have one-pedal driving systems. If it's good enough for Tesla, it should be good enough for you.

More: I took an electric car to a wedding.