Britain’s Most Powerful Multi-Millionaire Hippy

This week’s Downstream guest is Dale Vince, the former new age traveller who invented a string of transformative technologies, among them the world’s first green energy company, electric supercar, and electric charging network. In conversation with Aaron Bastani, Vince tells his story in full, starting with his days living on the road in the 80s and 90s. In 1985 Vince was beaten up by police and arrested during the infamous Battle of the Beanfield at Stonehenge. Vince then gives an account of how he developed the Electric Highway charging network, and how Elon Musk tried to steal it, resulting in a David-versus-Goliath legal battle – which Vince won.

In recent years, Vince funded controversial climate group Just Stop Oil, became a major donor to the Labour Party, and owns Forest Green Rovers, the world’s first vegan football club. His next project? Creating an edible form of high protein-grass. Bastani asks: to what extent did the new age traveller movement prefigure our world today, from veganism, to environmentalism, clean energy to post-materialism? How did Vince come up with so many game-changing technologies? And would he ever buy a Tesla?