Alkaline silver–zinc cells of different capacity have been characterised by a galvanostatic non-destructive technique (GNDT). Cells with capacities between 10.6 and 58.5Ah exhibit lower internal resistance than those with capacities between 1.7 and 5.8Ah. From analysis of voltage–time transient data, it is concluded that only the cells with capacities between 10.6 and 58.5Ah can sustain high-drain applications.