Ricardo makes engines for McLaren sports cars, such as the 720S showcased at the Geneva Motor Show

Britain is set to get another electric car battery manufacturer with Ricardo, a listed automotive consultancy, looking to open a facility to serve the country’s sports car and luxury carmaking sector.

Ricardo is in talks with car companies, all of which will need to commit to a greater number of electric and hybrid vehicles to satisfy emissions regulations and changing consumer demands.

Getting back more fully into automotive manufacturing — Ricardo produces more than 5,000 high-performance engines a year for McLaren’s road cars and gear systems for Bugatti — would be going back to the future for a company founded by Sir Harry Ricardo, one of the unsung heroes of British motor engineering. Though without the profile of Sir Henry Royce or Walter Owen Bentley,