2,359 piece LEGO excavator goes on sale as the real deal goes to work

Jo Borrás | Sep 12 2026 - 8:00 am PT

13% off/$372

LEGO’s 2,359-piece Volvo EC500 excavator has been sitting on store shelves for more than a year, but there’s a pretty great bit of timing hiding behind a 13% off deal on the fully functional Technic set: the first real-deal Volvo EC500 Electric excavator is now in customers’ hands, with regular series production expected to start next year.

With a complex electric motor and gearbox, easily controllable boom and arm, and interchangeable bucket and hammer tools, you’d be forgiven for asking if I’m talking about the 50-ton Volvo EC500 Electric excavator getting put through its paces on a Norwegian construction site, or the smaller 1:24-ish scale LEGO Technic machine shown here – currently ~13% off on Amazon – but we wouldn’t be talking about one without the other, so let’s start with the one most of us are (probably) more likely to buy.

The real deal

First released in 2025 as part of LEGO’s Technic lineup, the Volvo EC500 Hybrid Excavator is a 2,359-piece build aimed squarely at adult LEGO builders and heavy equipment enthusiasts. The fully functional model features a motorized boom, arm and bucket, a working gearbox, rotating upper body and interchangeable shovel and breaker attachments, making it considerably more than a static display piece. And at something like 1:22-24 scale, it’s a surprisingly stout replica of Volvo CE’s massive 50-ton class excavator.

In keeping with LEGO’s long-running collaboration with Volvo, a number of true-to-life details stand out, including the ergonomically shaped teal Volvo operator’s seat in the cab and the inclusion of the H48 Low Noise breaker – a genuine accessory on the larger machine.

The real-er deal

2027 Volvo EC500 Electric excavator; via Volvo CE.

The reason we’re here talking about a year-old LEGO set is, of course, the recent news that the first pre-production examples of Volvo’s EC500 Electric excavator (itself first shown in 2025) are doing real work, today.

An article published on our sister site, Electrek, revealed that the machine was already in the hands of select Volvo Construction Equipment customers testing the machine in live working environments across Norway. Volvo says the real-world tests will enable them to gather detailed feedback on the excavator’s behavior, performance, and operator experience as they make final adjustments to the EC500 Electric its way towards production and more practical job site integration.

The EC500 Hybrid (which is what the LEGO model’s decals say you’re getting) operates on a similar electric-drive system, but it’s backed by a Penta diesel generator instead of the larger battery pack and 35 m grid-connected cable of the full-scale digger.

If you’re a fan of Volvo Construction Equipment, LEGO, or both, you’re in luck – this Volvo EC500 Hybrid Excavator set is just the beginning:

We’ve got even more LEGO deals and news over in our dedicated hub here, including the latest 17 LEGO sets that just hit the market a few days ago.

SOURCES | IMAGES: LEGO; Volvo CE.