For U.S. individual investors looking at solar and electric vehicle companies before they go public
Investors who missed the early growth of Tesla, Rivian, or BYD now have more startup EV investment opportunities than existed a decade ago. Since 2016, SEC crowdfunding rules have allowed U.S. individual investors to buy shares in private companies through SEC-registered platforms, including companies building solar and electric vehicles. The harder part is telling a company that sells products today from one still working on prototypes, and knowing what you give up by investing before a company lists on an exchange.
GoSun, a Cincinnati solar and electric vehicle company founded by Patrick Sherwin, is raising its current round on StartEngine. For investors looking at EV startups before an IPO, the sections below cover where to find these offerings and the checks worth running on any private EV company, GoSun included, before committing money.
“Anyone comparing startup EV investment opportunities can read our filings and see what we’ve shipped and what’s still on the way,” said Patrick Sherwin, CEO and Founder of GoSun.
Where U.S. individual investors can find startup EV investment opportunities
Individual investors can back private EV and solar companies through two SEC exemptions:
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Regulation Crowdfunding (Reg CF): the exemption behind EV startup crowdfunding campaigns on registered funding portals and broker-dealers such as StartEngine, Wefunder and Republic. Companies can raise up to $5 million in 12 months, and non-accredited investors can take part, within SEC limits.
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Regulation A (often called Reg A+): larger raises, up to $75 million a year under Tier 2. In a Tier 2 offering whose shares are not listed on an exchange, a non-accredited investor can generally invest up to 10% of the greater of their annual income or net worth.
Private placements under Regulation D are generally limited to accredited investors. Funding portals list their open offerings by category, so a portal’s EV, clean energy or transportation listings are a practical place to start.
Reg CF investment limits for non-accredited investors
Every Reg CF company files a Form C with the SEC before its raise opens, and the filing is public on SEC EDGAR. If you are not an accredited investor, the SEC caps how much you can put into all crowdfunding offerings combined over 12 months:
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If either your annual income or your net worth is less than $124,000, the limit is the greater of $2,500 or 5% of the greater of your annual income or net worth.
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If both are $124,000 or more, the limit is 10% of the greater of the two, up to $124,000.
Accredited investors have no Reg CF limit. The SEC’s Regulation Crowdfunding overview covers the full rules.
Delivered products are the first thing to verify in an EV or Solar startup
Any evaluation of a private EV company starts with delivery. Have paying customers received its products, and how many? Reservations and pre-orders show interest. Delivered products show the company can design, build, sell and support something.
Consider Aptera, which is now publicly traded. Before it went public, the solar EV maker raised more than $100 million from more than 17,000 investors through its Regulation A offering. It direct-listed on Nasdaq under the ticker SEV on Oct. 16, 2025, and Renaissance Capital reported at the listing that the company had not yet started production of its vehicles or generated any revenue. Aptera may still succeed, but its early investors were betting on a vehicle that was not yet on the road.
Run the same test on GoSun and separate three things: what has been delivered, what is available today and what is available only by reservation.
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Delivered: By July 2014, GoSun had begun shipping its first solar cookers, the GoSun Sport and GoSun Go, and had sent out more than 1,000 products to 22 countries, as founder Patrick Sherwin told Soapbox Cincinnati at the time.
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Current availability: As of October 2026, many of GoSun’s solar ovens, coolers and power banks are for sale on gosun.co, including the Elcat and the Elcat Splash solar electric boats. The EV Solar Charger page shows is now shipping. The best selling Solar ovens are available for sale as well as a solar cooler, and a solar water filter and other solar chargers.
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Reservations only: The Moonrider 27 compact electric tractor takes a $50 deposit for delivery in 2027. The Gopher Solar Cargo E-Bike takes a $50 fully refundable reservation, also for delivery in 2027. The GoSun Solar Carport is also available for a $50 reservation with intended delivery in 2027.
Five sections of a Form C every EV startup investor should read
A pitch video is marketing, and the details are in the legal filing: a Form C for a Reg CF raise, or an offering circular filed on Form 1-A for a Reg A raise. Before you invest, look for these sections:
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Financial statements. In a Reg CF raise, depending on how much the company is raising, they are certified by the CEO, reviewed by an independent accountant or audited. Compare revenue and losses from one year to the next, not just the latest year.
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Risk factors written by the company itself. Read them in full, especially any about manufacturing, suppliers and funding.
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Use of proceeds, which tells you what your money will pay for.
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Outstanding debt and earlier funding rounds, including who holds shares that rank ahead of yours.
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Officers and directors, with their backgrounds.
Then check the platform. Registered funding portals appear on FINRA’s list of funding portals. Broker-dealers, including StartEngine Primary, which runs GoSun’s offering, appear on FINRA BrokerCheck.
Annual reports on EDGAR show whether a company delivered on earlier raises
A company that has raised under Reg CF before leaves a public record. It files an annual report each year after a raise until it meets one of the SEC’s conditions to stop, so you can compare its results with what it told earlier investors. We have filed Reg CF offerings with the SEC since 2017, and our annual reports are on EDGAR.
Product launches leave a record too, and we have brought products to market through crowdfunding campaigns since our first solar cooker. For any company you consider, check whether each product shipped, how close it came to the promised date and whether the company still sells it.
Revenue from existing product lines reduces dependence on one launch
A company with one product in development depends on that product. A company that already sells several product lines has revenue coming from more than one place while it develops the next one. Look at the revenue breakdown in the filing, and ask which products bring in most of it and which are still on the way. Has the Company delivered any revenues over its history? If the Company has launched products on crowdfunding platforms such as Kickstarter, have they delivered any products to customers?
Liquidity is the main tradeoff of investing in EV startups before an IPO
Reg CF shares generally can not be resold for one year, apart from a few exceptions such as a sale back to the company or to an accredited investor. After that year, there is usually still no market where you can sell them. Investing while a company is private doesn’t mean it plans an IPO. You may hold the shares until the company is acquired, or lists on an exchange, merges wit a public company, or shuts down, and any of those can take years or never happen.
Private company shares can also lose their entire value. Only invest money you can afford to lose and leave untouched for a long time, and spread it across more than one company.
This Reg CF offering is made available through StartEngine Primary LLC, member FINRA/SIPC. This investment is speculative, illiquid, and involves a high degree of risk, including the possible loss of your entire investment.
GoSun has delivered products since 2014 and is taking vehicle reservations for 2027. GoSun has generated more than $26M in lifetime revenue, and has launched more than 15 crowdfunded products and inventions started with solar cooking and have moved into electric vehicles: two electric boats, a solar cargo e-bike and now an all electric tractor. The EV Solar Charger is a roof-mounted solar charger for electric cars and trucks, and the Solar Carport is a 4 kW solar structure for charging an EV, a tractor or a home.
GoSun's website lists more than 180,000 customers in over 100 countries. Most of that history comes from off grid solar products. The vehicle line is newer, and the tractor and e-bike are not yet delivering. Financial filings and offering details are on GoSun’s StartEngine page.
Whether you look at GoSun or at another company, start with the filings and the product pages, and hold every company to the same three answers: what has been delivered, what is available now and what is still on reservation.
Common questions about startup EV investment opportunities
Question: How much money do I need to invest in a private EV company?
Answer: Each company sets its own minimum, commonly a few hundred dollars for a Reg CF raise, and publishes it on the offering page. Non-accredited investors are also capped at the high end. Under SEC rules, an investor with annual income or net worth below $124,000 can put the greater of $2,500 or 5 percent of the larger figure into all Reg CF offerings combined over 12 months; an investor above both thresholds can invest 10 percent, up to $124,000. For GoSun, the minimum and the full terms are listed on GoSun’s StartEngine offering page.
Question: What are alternatives to Aptera for startup EV investors?
Answer: Aptera is now public, so its earlier crowdfunding stage is closed. Look for other private EV and solar companies with open Reg CF or Reg A offerings, which funding portals list by category. Compare them on the same checks: what has been delivered, what the filings show and how earlier raises went. GoSun is one, with its 2026 Reg CF round open on StartEngine.
Question: What counts as a clean tech or socially responsible EV investment?
Answer: Investors often apply these labels as well as impact investment, solar investment, or climate change investment to companies whose products replace the use of fossil fuel energy (particularly oil, diesel and gasoline) with electric or solar power. These descriptive labels alone indicate nothing about a company’s environmental impact or suitability for a given investor. The more reliable measure is what the company actually sells. GoSun’s products, including its solar ovens and the Moonrider 27 electric tractor, run on solar power or clean electricity that can be generated by solar electric panels. .
Question: What happens to my shares if the company never goes public?
Answer: The shares remain yours, but there may be no practical way to sell them. Reg CF securities cannot be resold for one year except in limited or private cases, and after that there is usually no established market. Any return depends on an event such as an acquisition, a later listing or a sale to another investor on a secondary market. The SEC’s investor bulletin on crowdfunding advises that investors should be prepared to lose the entire investment if the company fails.
Question: Are solar electric vehicles available to buy yet, or are they still concepts?
Answer: Many are still in development or taking reservations. GoSun’s Moonrider 27 electric tractor, with an optional solar canopy, is taking reservations for delivery in 2027, and its Elcat and Elcat Splash electric boats show as in very limited supply as of October 2026. Check each company’s filings and product pages for its delivery status.
This Reg CF offering is made available through StartEngine Primary LLC, member FINRA/SIPC. This investment is speculative, illiquid, and involves a high degree of risk, including the possible loss of your entire investment.