Electric vehicle (EV) subsidies have been a central part of global clean energy policy but have raised concerns about regressivity. We evaluate equity-focused EV subsidy designs—buyer income limits, price limits, and used EV subsidies—as implemented in many countries, including through the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). We show that in a simple theoretical model, resale price changes can make new and used EV subsidies economically equivalent. Using a novel bunching estimator exploiting the IRA used EV tax credit’s transaction price limit, we estimate that the credit indeed raised EV resale prices—but only after the credits could be paid immediately at the dealership. Using a detailed structural model of U.S. new and used vehicle markets, we show that new EV subsidies accelerate used EV scrappage instead of only diverting from gasoline vehicles, reducing environmental benefits. Partially for this reason, the modeled marginal value of public funds (MVPF) of the IRA EV tax credits is only 0.88. Income-limited new EV subsidies have relatively high welfare-weighted MVPF.