diff --git a/src/main/java/org/jruby/ext/openssl/PKeyEC.java b/src/main/java/org/jruby/ext/openssl/PKeyEC.java
index 638ee910..45466e03 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/jruby/ext/openssl/PKeyEC.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/jruby/ext/openssl/PKeyEC.java
@@ -248,8 +248,7 @@ public IRubyObject initialize(final ThreadContext context, final IRubyObject[] a
         IRubyObject arg = args[0];
 
         if ( arg instanceof Group ) {
-            this.group = (Group) arg;
-            this.curveName = this.group.getCurveName();
+            setGroup((Group) arg);
             return this;
         }
 
@@ -380,6 +379,11 @@ private void unwrapPrivateKeyWithName() {
         }
     }
 
+    private void setGroup(final Group group) {
+        this.group = group;
+        this.curveName = this.group.getCurveName();
+    }
+
     //private static ECNamedCurveParameterSpec readECParameters(final byte[] input) throws IOException {
     //    ASN1ObjectIdentifier oid = ASN1ObjectIdentifier.getInstance(input);
     //    return ECNamedCurveTable.getParameterSpec(oid.getId());
@@ -407,6 +411,19 @@ public PKeyEC generate_key(final ThreadContext context) {
         return this;
     }
 
+    @JRubyMethod(meta = true)
+    public static IRubyObject generate(final ThreadContext context, final IRubyObject self, final IRubyObject group) {
+        PKeyEC randomKey = new PKeyEC(context.runtime, (RubyClass) self);
+
+        if (group instanceof Group) {
+            randomKey.setGroup((Group) group);
+        } else {
+            randomKey.curveName = group.convertToString().toString();
+        }
+
+        return randomKey.generate_key(context);
+    }
+
     @JRubyMethod(name = "dsa_sign_asn1")
     public IRubyObject dsa_sign_asn1(final ThreadContext context, final IRubyObject data) {
         try {
diff --git a/src/test/ruby/ec/test_ec.rb b/src/test/ruby/ec/test_ec.rb
index 2ac4a041..bb1b81cc 100644
--- a/src/test/ruby/ec/test_ec.rb
+++ b/src/test/ruby/ec/test_ec.rb
@@ -203,18 +203,13 @@ def setup
     super
     self.class.disable_security_restrictions!
 
-    # @data1 = 'foo'; @data2 = 'bar' * 1000 # data too long for DSA sig
-
     @groups = []; @keys = []
 
     OpenSSL::PKey::EC.builtin_curves.each do |curve, comment|
       next if curve.start_with?("Oakley") # Oakley curves are not suitable for ECDSA
-      group = OpenSSL::PKey::EC::Group.new(curve)
-
-      key = OpenSSL::PKey::EC.new(group)
-      key.generate_key
 
-      @groups << group; @keys << key
+      @groups << group = OpenSSL::PKey::EC::Group.new(curve)
+      @keys << OpenSSL::PKey::EC.generate(group)
     end
   end