Talk:Dale Vince
This article must adhere to the biographies of living persons (BLP) policy, even if it is not a biography, because it contains material about living persons. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately from the article and its talk page, especially if potentially libellous. If such material is repeatedly inserted, or if you have other concerns, please report the issue to this noticeboard.If you are a subject of this article, or acting on behalf of one, and you need help, please see this help page. |
![]() | This article is rated Start-class on Wikipedia's content assessment scale. It is of interest to the following WikiProjects: | |||||||||||||||||
|
![]() | The Wikimedia Foundation's Terms of Use require that editors disclose their "employer, client, and affiliation" with respect to any paid contribution; see WP:PAID. For advice about reviewing paid contributions, see WP:COIRESPONSE.
|
Dreadful article
[edit]"In April 2022, Vince announced he planned to sell Ecotricity" - of which there had been no previous mention in the article. The grammar is quite awful in many places.
Agree. The article needs a thorough edit, which I do not have time to undertake.
Marchino61 (talk) 10:49, 12 July 2025 (UTC)
Untidy
[edit]Erm... what's with the talk about the Telegraph article in the 'Ecotricity' section?
Why not summarize what Ecotricity is and point to the existing page, perhaps add the Telegraph article to a "What the Hysterical Press say" section?
If none of the other contributors want to tidy this up - I can rewrite it - but I do work for him... & I'd prefer not have to try and be neutral ;-)
Paulecotricity (talk) 15:17, 28 April 2011 (UTC)
- I'd not really noticed it. Having now done so, I do wonder what the other article on the hack's desk looked like: "Squillion pound electric car lies unused as Evil Hippy Millionaire Owner squanders your money". This is a car. Cars are driven. This is a car for research. Research involves using it and seeing if it works. So what's the problem? I once worked for a chap who employed a team of students to drive brand new BMWs in figure-eights on an airfield all day (they were testing a new differential) - is that any better than building this test car and then using it as it's intended? Andy Dingley (talk) 10:08, 22 June 2011 (UTC)
- Hehe - that's about it Andy! Well I waited a while, then removed that section - Ecotricity is mentioned in the introductory paragraph anyway. Perhaps someone will be writing an entry for the 'Nemesis' & can include mentions in the press (like the Telegraph article)? --Paulecotricity (talk) 08:56, 28 June 2011 (UTC)

— Preceding unsigned comment added by Varthdaderdeathstar (talk • contribs) 14:49, 31 October 2015 (UTC)
Divorce settlements.
[edit]- John Bingham (11 March 2015). "Delayed divorce battle: Ecotricity founder Dale Vince's New Age traveller ex-wife wins cash fight". Daily Telegraph.
This needs to go in, but I've already reverted it twice today. "ex-wife wins cash fight" is quite wrong. She may yet win some settlement (I hope she does, good luck to her), but this hasn't happened yet.
She has won the right to take the case to court. She has not won the case.
At the outset, I understand (IANAL) that this was the position she was already in, same as any other ex-partner. However an initial judgement had ruled that out. That judgement has now been reversed.
Whatever coverage we give to this (and it warrants coverage as both a BLP aspect and a novel legal aspect) then we should be accurate and reflect what has happened, not the "divorcees own everything forever" shock headlines that have been flying around today. Even the Telegraph (above) has a good and balanced article, spoiled by the misleading headline. Andy Dingley (talk) 21:19, 11 March 2015 (UTC)
Actual origin of company
[edit]in 1995 he with his then partner Karen Lane joined Martin Alder in founding The Renewable Energy Company. It was Alder who had the experience and background in the UK electricity industry and whose idea it was to create a specialist supplier of renewable energy. It was Alder who chose the name of the Renewable Energy Company later to be re-branded by Vince as Ecotricity. The company was very successful from the beginning Alder using his network of contacts in renewable generation to secure contracts for electricity and sales. In 1999/2000 Vince contrived to seize control of the company for himself. He subsequently made sure that no acknowledgement was given to Alder's or Lane's role in the foundation of company.Varthdaderdeathstar (talk) 14:40, 31 October 2015 (UTC)Cite error: A <ref>
tag is missing the closing </ref>
(see the help page).</ref> See File BlREX+GJ0205-870856 4-12723584.pdf
- Citation needed.
- Marchino61 (talk) 10:50, 12 July 2025 (UTC)
External links modified
[edit]Hello fellow Wikipedians,
I have just modified one external link on Dale Vince. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
- Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20150221092113/http://recruitment.glos.ac.uk/latestnews/archive/prFrom2013/August2013/Pages/UniversityAnnouncesHonoraryDoctoratesandFellowships.aspx to http://recruitment.glos.ac.uk/latestnews/archive/prFrom2013/August2013/Pages/UniversityAnnouncesHonoraryDoctoratesandFellowships.aspx
When you have finished reviewing my changes, please set the checked parameter below to true or failed to let others know (documentation at {{Sourcecheck}}
).
This message was posted before February 2018. After February 2018, "External links modified" talk page sections are no longer generated or monitored by InternetArchiveBot. No special action is required regarding these talk page notices, other than regular verification using the archive tool instructions below. Editors have permission to delete these "External links modified" talk page sections if they want to de-clutter talk pages, but see the RfC before doing mass systematic removals. This message is updated dynamically through the template {{source check}}
(last update: 5 June 2024).
- If you have discovered URLs which were erroneously considered dead by the bot, you can report them with this tool.
- If you found an error with any archives or the URLs themselves, you can fix them with this tool.
Cheers.—InternetArchiveBot (Report bug) 09:11, 5 December 2016 (UTC)
OBE
[edit]Page 13 here https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/57155/supplement/1 verifies his OBE. I have no idea how to do citations. Do remove this section if/when you can do it properly. Ta
Incorporating Guido Fawkes content into Politics section
[edit]![]() | This edit request by an editor with a conflict of interest has now been answered. |
Hello! I'm an employee at Ecotricity, part of the Green Britain Foundation, both of which are owned by Dale Vince. I wanted to address a recent edit to the article, which adds a Dispute with GuidoFawkes section about Mr. Vince suing the politics blog Guido Fawkes for libel. While that is true, it doesn't strike me as something that should have its own section. Perhaps it should be incorporated into the final paragraph of the existing Politics section. A suggestion:
- On Times Radio, in the immediate aftermath of the 2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel, Vince stated that "one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter" when asked about Hamas. In the same interview, he said that he did not support Hamas's attack. He further agreed that Hamas is a terrorist organization and that Israel has a right to defend itself.[1][2] Angela Rayner said Vince's "freedom fighter" remark was "appalling".[1] In July 2024, Vince sued ownership of the political blog Guido Fawkes for libel, claiming that the site implied he supported Hamas by circulating a clip of the Times Radio interview that featured only the "freedom fighter" remark with no additional context.[2]
References
- ^ a b Daly, Patrick (2024-03-14). "Labour donor Dale Vince's comments about Hamas were appalling, says Rayner". The Independent. Retrieved 2024-10-09.
- ^ a b Waterson, Jim (July 2, 2024). "Dale Vince sues Guido Fawkes owner for libel over Hamas claims". The Guardian. Retrieved January 31, 2025.
The Dispute with GuidoFawkes section also claims that I removed content from this Wikipedia article about the libel suit in August of 2024. That's not correct. I actually added content about the suit and the blog distorting Mr. Vince's comments. Another editor reverted my changes. They were completely right to do so, by the way, and I apologise for my edits. At the time, I wasn't familiar with Wikipedia's conflict-of-interest editing guidelines. I'm now aware that I'm not supposed to directly edit this article, which is why I'm on the Talk page suggesting changes instead.
Anyway, I'll step aside and let independent editors weigh in on this matter. If I can offer any clarification on this edit request or my previous editing, please let me know. Verelrodrigues (talk) 16:09, 6 February 2025 (UTC)
- I'm going to tag in User:SimplyLouis27, who has made an edit to the Guido Fawkes dispute section, and User:Vanderwaalforces, who had (rightfully) removed my content about the Times Radio interview controversy last summer, to see if either of them would like to review my request above. Verelrodrigues (talk) 17:23, 10 February 2025 (UTC)
- I removed it as it added no encyclopaedic value, and frankly didn’t make sense. SimplyLouis27 (talk) 18:29, 10 February 2025 (UTC)
- User:SimplyLouis27: Yes, I saw that you got rid of the passage about me editing the article and added a "citation needed" tag to the other claim. Really appreciate that; I think it improves upon what was previously there. What I'm asking about is my edit request above, in which I suggest incorporating some of the GuidoFawkes section content into the existing Politics one.
- No pressure to field the request! Just asking because you demonstrated an interest in the content I'm looking to reorganise. Verelrodrigues (talk) 18:27, 14 February 2025 (UTC)
Done, clearly an improvement as the previous was a completely unsourced BLP statement. Thank you for working through edit requests. Rusalkii (talk) 20:24, 16 February 2025 (UTC)
- Thanks for reviewing, User:Rusalkii! Verelrodrigues (talk) 19:16, 24 February 2025 (UTC)
- I removed it as it added no encyclopaedic value, and frankly didn’t make sense. SimplyLouis27 (talk) 18:29, 10 February 2025 (UTC)
Improving the Early life and career section
[edit]![]() | An impartial editor has reviewed the proposed edit(s) and asked the editor with a conflict of interest to go ahead and make the suggested changes. |
Hello again! I'd like to submit a draft that strengthens and builds upon the Early life and career section. What's already there is mostly solid; I just noticed that there are a few information gaps. I'm going to use the "diff" function below to illustrate all my suggested changes, but I'll briefly summarize first. My draft:
- Separates Early life into its own section and rewrites a pair of sentences that were plagiarized from the cited source
- Adds information about several career developments that received extensive media coverage (Nemesis, launch of Devil's Kitchen, publication of Vince's first book, etc.)
- Clarifies that Vince halted previously planned sale of Ecotricity
You can review all my suggested changes line-by-line by clicking this dropdown:
Extended content
| ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
References
|
If my draft were added to the article as-is, it would look like this:
Early life and Career sections
|
---|
— Preceding unsigned comment added by Verelrodrigues (talk • contribs) 18:08, 31 March 2025 (UTC)
Early life[edit]Vince was born in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, the second of three children to parents who ran a Fenland haulage firm. Leaving school at 15, he spent time as a New Age traveller.[1][2] In 1980, Vince participated in the occupation of RAF Molesworth after it was chosen as a base for the US Air Force's mobile nuclear armed Ground Launched Cruise Missile. He was also one of the new age travellers present at the Battle of the Beanfield at Stonehenge in 1985.[3] Career[edit]In 1991, Vince saw his first windfarm ("I thought, either I can carry on by myself with the windmill on my van, or I can get into the big stuff")[4] and, in 1995, he founded the Renewable Energy Company, which eventually changed its name to Ecotricity.[5] In 1996, he launched his first wind turbine supplying "green electricity".[6] The following year, he attended the conference in Kyoto, Japan that produced the Kyoto Protocol.[7] In November 2010, Vince debuted Nemesis, which has been described by The Guardian and Telegraph as "Britain's first green supercar."[8][9] Nemesis is a modified Lotus Exige owned and developed by Vince.[8] The car broke the UK land speed record for electric vehicles in September 2012, averaging 151.6mph (244km/h) while traveling along a mile-long course.[10] In 2012, Vince founded the Green Britain Foundation, a charitable organization dedicated to the protection of the natural environment and the promotion of physical recreation.[11][12] That same year, Vince helped establish the Electric Superhighway, a network of electric vehicle charging stations positioned along Britain's motorways. He sold the network to Gridserve in 2021.[13] In 2019, Vince founded Devil's Kitchen, a company that provides vegan meals to schools and colleges.[14] As of 2024, the company was serving approximately one in four British primary schools.[15] He published his first book, Manifesto, in 2020.[16] Manifesto went on to become a Sunday Times bestseller in April 2023.[17] In October 2020, The Guardian reported that Vince had plans to create artificial diamonds by chemical vapor deposition using "carbon dioxide captured directly from the atmosphere to form the diamonds – which are chemically identical to diamonds mined from the earth – using wind and solar electricity, with water collected from rainfall."[18] This plan was realized as a company called SkyDiamond, which produced its first 15 diamonds in December 2021 and released a full jewelry line in October 2022.[19] In April 2022, Vince announced he planned to sell Ecotricity and go into politics. He said part of the reason was that a new owner "can achieve even more, faster. We've got a massive pipeline of projects that need to be built requiring £2 billion of investment." As well as developing his interest in politics, he would focus on renewable projects such as tidal lagoons and geothermal energy.[20][21] In November of the same year, he said that he had halted plans to sell the company.[22] In June 2023, Vince announced plans to implement an "eco-curriculum" across 12,000 UK schools by 2025 through his Ministry of Eco Education. The curriculum, which seeks to teach students about the natural world and the climate crisis, had previously been tested in a pilot program featuring 25 schools in 2022.[23] In July 2023, Vince announced the founding of Ecojet, an airline featuring planes powered by hydrogen-derived electricity.[24] Ecojet's first flights are scheduled to take place in 2025.[25] References
|
I'll now step aside and let independent editors review. I know that might take some time because I'm proposing quite a few content additions. If I can make the process easier in any way, please let me know! Thanks! Verelrodrigues (talk) 18:08, 31 March 2025 (UTC)
- Reaching out to User:Rusalkii because they reviewed my previous request. No obligation on their part, particularly since this is a more extensive request, but I would appreciate the help. Verelrodrigues (talk) 14:50, 3 April 2025 (UTC)
Adding further context to Politics section
[edit]![]() | An impartial editor has reviewed the proposed edit(s) and asked the editor with a conflict of interest to go ahead and make the suggested changes. |
Hello! While editors are still considering my extensive request above, I thought it might be wise to propose a more modest one to the Politics section. Over the past year, there have been a few notable developments in the Times Radio interview controversy (publications retracting claims, lawsuits settling, etc.) that I believe are worth including because 1.) they have received significant media coverage and 2.) their inclusion would provide a fuller picture of the event and its consequences. I'll once again use the "diff" function to illustrate the edits I'm proposing:
Extended content
| ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
References
|
Here is what the last two paragraphs of the section would look like if my edits were made:
Politics additions
|
---|
On Times Radio, in the immediate aftermath of the 2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel, Vince stated that "one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter" when asked about Hamas. Angela Rayner said Vince's remark was "appalling". Vince said his remark was taken from a doctored video clip and that, in the same interview, he had agreed that Hamas were terrorists and Israel had a right to defend itself.[1] In July 2024, Vince sued ownership of the political blog Guido Fawkes for libel, claiming that the site implied he supported Hamas by circulating a clip of the Times Radio interview that featured only the "freedom fighter" remark with no additional context.[2] The Daily Mail,[3] GB News,[2] and Tory MP Michael Fabricant[4] apologised to Vince for advancing similar mischaracterisations of his views. The Daily Mail and GB News also paid Vince legal damages.[2] In February 2025, Paul Staines, the founding editor of Guido Fawkes, agreed to pay £9,995 in damages in order to settle the libel suit against him.[5] Vince has expressed his intention to donate the damages awarded in these suits to Palestinian charities.[6][3] References
|
As always, I'm here to answer any questions independent editors may have as they review. Thanks! Verelrodrigues (talk) 17:04, 10 April 2025 (UTC)
- Hi! I'm a colleague of Verel's, filling in for him while he's on holiday. I've added myself to the COI template at the top of this Talk page. I just wanted to let the community here know that I may be responding to feedback on either of his active edit requests. Pedalpowered (talk) 09:19, 29 April 2025 (UTC)
- Picking up where my colleague left off above, I'm going to tag User:OatPowered because they have regularly contributed to this article over the years. OatPowered, if you have any time to handle this request and/or the one above it, I would really appreciate the help. Verelrodrigues (talk) 15:54, 20 May 2025 (UTC)
Go ahead: I have reviewed these proposed changes and suggest that you go ahead and make the proposed changes to the page. GoldRomean (talk) 02:11, 11 June 2025 (UTC)
- Thanks so much for reviewing, User:GoldRomean! I've implemented both this edit request and the one above. Verelrodrigues (talk) 16:16, 11 June 2025 (UTC)
Replacing infobox photo
[edit]![]() | The user below has a request that an edit be made to Dale Vince. That user has an actual or apparent conflict of interest. The requested edits backlog is high. Please be very patient. There are currently 158 requests waiting for review. Please read the instructions for the parameters used by this template for accepting and declining them, and review the request below and make the edit if it is well sourced, neutral, and follows other Wikipedia guidelines and policies. |
Hello again! Thanks for editors' help with the requests above. As a break from these more complicated requests, I am back to put forward a very simple one: would it be possible to replace the photo in the article's infobox? It's quite old and not the best quality. I reached out to a photographer we've worked with, and they have released a recent Dale Vince headshot on Wikimedia Commons. Here's a link to the photo.
Thank you in advance to whoever handles this request. Verelrodrigues (talk) 10:37, 5 August 2025 (UTC)
- Biography articles of living people
- Start-Class biography articles
- WikiProject Biography articles
- Start-Class Veganism and Vegetarianism articles
- Low-importance Veganism and Vegetarianism articles
- WikiProject Veganism and Vegetarianism articles
- Talk pages of subject pages with paid contributions
- Implemented requested edits
- Answered requested edits
- Wikipedia conflict of interest edit requests