It also heats the air in a chamber below the cooking surface (if so designed) which allows for convection and gives an additional advantage to even heating. The Zojirushi implements this method. Notice that the the Zojirushi doesn’t have a drip tray. This is one potential engineering trade-off for this design.
https://www.amazon.com/Broil-King-PCG-10-Professional-Portable/dp/B000BKXE02

