It doesn't have a heater, the motor/electronics is just operated inefficiently to produce more heat than normal.
It does have a battery heater. Just because they've integrated the heater functionality into the motor doesn't mean it doesn't have a heater. It doesn't have a separate, dedicated heater, but who cares. The functionality is the same as if it did.
I care, as do a lot of other Tesla enthusiast that are interested in how the vehicle actually works and how it is different than the S and X. The difference from a technical standpoint is HUGE. So since you are so semantically inclined... can you quote anyone who has said that there is no battery heating functionality what so ever?
Yes yes, semantics. The Model 3 can heat the battery, but HOW it heats the battery is different than the Model S and X...if you care. If you don't care then you can just stick with the idea that The Model 3 has the capability of being heated.
Uhh the people who can't warm their battery as quickly as Model S or X would certainly care. It's a cost cutting measure and definitely is not equivalent to a standalone battery heater.
Didn't Bjorn show that driving the car hard was better than relying on battery heater (when talking about getting faster supercharging rates)?
If you are talking about how good a battery heater it has, then that’s a different question. Does anyone have engineering specs on how efficient the Model S battery heater is versus the model 3? How about temperature ranges? There is no evidence that I know of that the Model 3 battery heater isn’t as quick or efficient as the Model S one. Sure it is a cost cutting measure, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t as good. Note that the Model S could not use this technology since the Model S motor can’t be used as a heater (completely different kind of motor).
It's not a different question, you literally just said "the functionality is the same as if it did". The Model 3 is much worse at warming the battery when sitting idle, in a driveway for example. The Model S and X can heat the battery prior to driving much more effectively since they have the standalone heater. Many people have reported that the Model 3 "heater" isn't that great and even after driving for 10-15 minutes they still have a cold soaked battery. I'm not really talking about efficiency, more about convenience and efficacy in warming the battery in a rapid and timely fashion. I think its clear that using excess waste heat is going to be more efficient than a dedicated resistive heater, but that's not really the point i'm going for.
And it's hard to measure/compare the efficiency and simplification benefits as well. People seem so hung up on the silliest things. I think of the Model X/S as "Old Tech" and think it is so cool the Model 3 uses the motor. It's been well known Tesla uses the motor to HEAT the battery (when needed) for a very long time.
Do we know if anyone has gotten access to the TMS diag screen like on the S/X for the 3 yet? Seems like we are comparing how the TMS in the 3 should act based on what we know of the S/X when clearly it isn't the same. Are we basing how quick the battery warms based on available regen between the two vehicles?