ExtraEnergy.org, a non-profit website dedicated to promoting the electric bike market, put models from 22 manufacturers from Germany, Finland, Hungary, Taiwan, China, The Netherlands, France, and Switzerland through their paces in spring 2009. Of the 28 models tested, 21 scored "very good" ratings.

With the exception of a handful of lower-priced bikes purchased by ExtraEnergy for comparison purposes, the bulk of the test models represented the premium segment of the European market and had an average price of €2,400. The Gepida Reptila 1000, retailing at just €1,600, was among the 21 pedelecs achieving a "very good" rating.

The test was conducted between 24 April and 7 May with all models surviving a total of over 13,000 kilometres of testing. The test was broken down into three phases: an ergonomics test, test rides by volunteers and more thorough 10-day test rides using measuring equipment.

"All bikes made it through our strenuous, multi-phase test. A total of 350 test riders rode an average of 439 kilometres per bike – a testimony to solid technology,” said Hannes Neupert, president of ExtraEnergy. “We noticed a clear improvement in quality over 2008,” he added.