EWK Bison

The Bison is a large four-wheel-drive amphibious truck made by Eisenwerke Kaiserslautern (EWK). A data sheet for a 1991-built example gives a gross weight of 18 tonnes and a payload in the water of 7 tonnes. It is powered by a 320 PS (235 kW) V8 twin-turbo diesel through a ZF seven-speed automatic gearbox, with selectable longitudinal and cross-axle differential locks. Afloat it is driven by two contra-rotating Schottel drives that swivel through 360 degrees.

Top speed is about 100 km/h on the road and 15 km/h in the water, and it can climb 75% gradients. Equipment on the example described included a tyre-pressure regulation system, air conditioning and a rear-view video camera with LCD monitor; it had covered only 2,800 km and 685 operating hours and was not registered for German roads. A used Bison was advertised in the German magazine 'Truck Mobiles' in 1999.

ALF-2

A fire-fighting version was offered as the ALF-2, the intended successor to the M2-based ALF-1 amphibious fire appliance of Mainz. It was essentially a Bison with an equipment body in place of the cargo bed and modified floats. According to EWK a prototype was built at the company's own expense, but no fire brigade ordered it.