When Lefteris, a professional photographer in Los Angeles, says his other car is a gas guzzler, he’s talking about the icon of environmentalists, the Toyota Prius.

Lefteris is part of a grass-roots movement of people who are fed up with the auto industry for not offering affordable all-electrical vehicles and who are building their own. “It is possible,” say Lefteris, who goes by one name. “I didn’t do it for the cost savings, though it turns out to be an inexpensive way to transport myself. We must stop sending money to countries that are often hostile and repressive and do something to save our fragile planet.”

If a photographer with some basic electrical and mechanical knowledge can do this in his garage, why can’t the best engineers in America do something similar? Where are the modern-day Henry Fords, mass producing vehicles that will keep the air cleaner, create manufacturing jobs and reduce the economic stranglehold that foreign oil has on our nation?

To be sure, the global auto industry is responding. Honda this month began producing a fuel-cell vehicle in Japan. But with its $600 monthly lease, it is no Model T for the masses. General Motors is working on the Volt, an electric vehicle with a backup gas engine, but it won’t be available until 2010.

Lefteris’ vehicle, built on the frame and body of a 1971 Porsche 914, is not a hobby car. It’s his daily transportation for getting around L.A. In the last 12 months, he has put on 8,000 miles, making frequent business trips across town.

“My wife drives the gas guzzler, the Prius,” he said.

His car is packed with 22 lead acid batteries, a power controller, a charger and a 150-pound electric motor. The batteries are wired in series to produce 132 volts of direct current, and the motor puts out 20 horsepower, though the rating is calculated differently from a conventional gas engine.

The range is limited, but practical. Lefteris says the car can go up to 60 miles between charges, though running down the batteries shortens their useful life. “You learn to coast a lot,” he says of his power-management driving style.

At a time when many motorists are spending $100 to fill up their gas tanks, Lefteris says he spends about 1.5 cents’ worth of electricity for every mile. By comparison, a gas-powered vehicle that gets 20 mpg would cost 23 cents a mile, based on $4.50 a gallon gas.

When automakers finally start offering electric vehicles, though, it’s not clear who will be able to afford them. Lefteris spent about $18,000 to complete his vehicle, which is a lot cheaper than anything likely to hit the market soon.

The federal government has sunk several billion dollars into battery research since the 1970s, said Ross Dueber, chief executive of ZPower, a Camarillo-based battery research company.

Batteries are limited by the laws of nature: The chemicals in them just don’t pack as much energy as gasoline, pound for pound, Dueber said. Current generational lithium ion batteries hold two to three times as much energy as lead acid batteries. But gas still has roughly 50 times more energy content than the best lithium ion battery.

Such a calculus doesn’t discourage the homemade electric vehicle movement. You can see their outpouring of creativity and commitment at www.evalbum.com.

What’s next? Lefteris now wants to cover his roof in solar panels and recharge his car batteries from the sun.

“We have so much energy falling on our heads,” he said, “and we are not doing anything with it.”