Volvo has been on the forefront of creating hybrid and electric vehicles lately, and their construction equipment is no exception. In 2024, the company brought its new electric wheel loader to market, boasting a massive 20-metric-ton weight and a 6-metric-ton lift capacity, with two motors for propulsion and one for the hydraulics. As a company known for its own innovation, it’s only natural that LEGO would be interested in recreating the vehicle. And with that, LEGO Technic 42209 Volvo L120 Electric Wheel Loader was born, albeit a tiny fraction of the size. This 973-piece model will be available starting June 1st, retailing for US $119.99 | CAN $139.99 | UK £89.99. Join us as we build and test out the play features!
The LEGO Group provided The Brothers Brick with an early copy of this set for review. Providing TBB with products for review guarantees neither coverage nor positive reviews.
Unboxing the parts, instructions, and sticker sheet
The box is roughly the size of a large shoebox, with slightly less depth. On the front, we see the loader with the bucket raised, set against a city construction backdrop. Flipping it around, the back includes some specs of the real vehicle, along with inset images of the play features. The name says this model is dying to be motorized, but unfortunately, it’s not.
Not that long ago, paper bags were a rarity, however this is the first all-plastic-bags set I’ve seen in a while. The kit includes polybags numbered 1-8 and an unnumbered polybag, as well as 4 loose tires and the giant bucket.
Being a 9+ set (versus an adult 18+ set), the instructions do not have any interesting content in the front few pages. It’s a shame, because everyone could benefit from a little fast-fact info about these types of models. Meanwhile, the sticker sheet (loose in the box) contains a healthy – but not terribly obnoxious – amount of stickers.
The build
All good Technic kits pump you up right away with fun moving parts. Here, we begin with the central pivot of the loader, which implements universal joints to allow numerous axles to transfer play feature mechanisms from the back to the front.
This model has a few key play features, resulting in a relatively large amount of gears clustered into a small space.
To this central core, we first add the front differential. In this case, the newer, closed differential element is used, along with the newer large 22-tooth bevel gear and 14-tooth thick bevel gear.
Moving right along, we then add the back differential, which uses similar components as the front. A regular 20-tooth gear sticks out the back, and will be used to connect to the knob for the bucket arms.
From there, driving extension rings are stacked in a cluster to form the three (pretend) motors. Some green linkage elements also provide extra support to the hinged center portion, and additional gears and structure are tacked on for the next section.
The rear of the vehicle is terminated with the final gearing for both the bucket knobs (tilt and arm extension). Also added to the motor area are an orange rigid hose and a CV axle for getting from the front to the back gears.
With the core of the loader done, we build the cover, which you’re able to lift to discover what’s going on inside. From here, you can see how dense the model is, and that this space could never accommodate real LEGO motors. There would need to be a pretty substantial re-work to fit them.
The cab goes on next. When complete, it’s fastened with multiple long axles, and it isn’t particularly easy to get inside. It has a modest interior with a seat, joysticks, a non-operational steering wheel, and a bottle. The bottle is a bit odd because rather than being a brick-built water bottle, it’s a single-element minifigure wine bottle. Not toooo weird, it just doesn’t quite fit.
At the top of the cabin sits the steering nob, and on either side are ladders. A shovel is also added to the driver’s left side.
To tidy up the back end, some stickered beams and panels enclose the mechanisms. Below the Volvo logo, a tiny panel is moveable to expose the “charging port” for imaginary recharging. On top, the two knobs are added for adjusting the bucket arms.
Speaking of which, the final thing to do is add the actuating arms, the bucket itself, and the wheels. But we’ll save that picture for the next section!
The completed model
Once complete, we have a handsome little model that is the spitting image of its real-life counterpart. It’s somewhat small, but it certainly is dense. And while it is a toy with limits, the three linear actuators (which have been around since 2011) are essentially worm gears, and therefore quite strong. The loader will tip forward off balance long before the actuators give out.
Here you can somewhat see the range of motion. (My apologies for the model going out of frame. I didn’t realize it happened until I was out of town and unable to reshoot.) The mechanism is a little slow – this is sped up 5x.
It also has a decent turning radius, stemming from that central pivot…
As previously mentioned, the back does open up to peer inside. The little doors behind the rear tires open as well to show the “batteries” behind them. These doors can only be opened while the top portion is open, otherwise they catch.
Conclusions and recommendations
This is a relatively fast and fun model to build, and possibly even more fun to play with. It’s also great for showing how to accomplish multiple mechanisms in a small space, all while the front and back halves move somewhat independently. The beauty of LEGO is that you don’t just get a construction vehicle. You get the learning experience of building the vehicle before you play with it, and then lots of features to keep you going.
All that said, LEGO is not getting any less expensive. When complete, this model isn’t a whole lot bigger than my Canon camera. You may see the value when you get your hands on it and playing with it, but it’s not a model that screams $120 at a glance. I’m trying to temper my disappointment in discovering that it is not motorized (and would take a significant amount of work to do so) and be objective. It really is a great little model! However, at that price I can’t bring myself to justify putting it on a “must-buy” list.
LEGO Technic 42209 Volvo L120 Electric Wheel Loader will be available June 1st, retailing for US $119.99 | CAN $139.99 | UK £89.99. You may also be able to find it from third party retailers on Amazon and eBay.
The LEGO Group provided The Brothers Brick with an early copy of this set for review. Providing TBB with products for review guarantees neither coverage nor positive reviews.
