Students Tackle One of Electric Aviation’s Biggest Challenges

Embry-Riddle undergraduates will travel to Brazil to explore strategies for cooling electric aircraft batteries.

Jack Daleo

Saturday, October 18, 2025 at 10:00 AM ET

Verified

Edited By:

Travis Tingle

This Diamond HK-36, retrofitted to run on electric power, is just one model that requires electric battery cooling systems. [Courtesy: Embry‑Riddle/David Massey]

Key Takeaways:

Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, in collaboration with Brazil's Instituto Tecnológico de Aeronáutica (ITA) and backed by a $450,000 National Science Foundation grant, will send students to Brazil to research thermal management solutions for electric aircraft batteries.
Efficient thermal management is critical for electric aircraft to prevent battery overheating, which poses risks of fire, explosions, and degraded performance, particularly during high-energy flight phases.
The student cohorts will explore various cooling technologies, with a core focus on phase-change materials (PCMs) that absorb heat during their solid-to-liquid conversion to maintain stable battery temperatures.

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Over the next three years, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University will send cohorts of students to Brazil to study one of the most pressing challenges facing electric aircraft: thermal management.

The university on Friday announced a collaboration with Brazil’s Instituto Tecnológico de Aeronáutica (ITA) that will send students on 8- to 10-week trips in pursuit of strategies to keep electric aircraft batteries cool.