These days if you want to use all the facilities your caravan offers its almost essential to have access to 230V ac Hook up. Over time the consumer demand for EHU pitches has grown. There are very few parks now that don't offer EHU on some if not all pitches.
The rise of the EHU equipped sites and caravans has been a bit like the chicken and egg debate. Which came first? Unlike the Origin of Species debate the rise of the EHU is easier to theorise.
Originally caravans were a step up from tent camping, and the demands of the users were little more than those of the canvas army, - very bare, virtually self sufficient, a few paraffin lamps, candles or battery torches but certainly. No wired electrics of any sort. Over time, paraffin cookers gave way to LPG, and that also allowed for the introduction of LPG lighting.
With the very much better air sealing of caravans compared to tents, the prolonged use of gas lamps and gas rings inside caravans caused a number of Carbon Monoxide incidents. This gave rise to the requirement for fixed ventilation for caravans.
Gas mantles are extremely brittle and inconvenient so alternative methods of lighting were sought. 12V dc lighting run direct from the tow cars battery was an obvious choice. And it was easy to add more lights inside the caravan just by running a couple of wires.
Car batteries were much smaller than they are today, and the caravan lighting load was enough to flatten some cars batteries. So some bright spark thought about putting a 12V battery in the caravan, making it independent from the car. A little later it was realised the car could charge the battery whilst towing through the trailer socket.
With 12V power now available inside the caravan, other features started to appear, like electric water pumps, hot air circulation fans, and more lighting, built in radios, extractor fans etc. The increasing demand on the 12V supplies meant bigger batteries, or some other way of providing power or charging.
The introduction of the EHU was principally to make it more convenient to charge the on board battery, but it was soon realised that it could also allow for a mix of mains lighting and the operation of some normal domestic products, like TV's and vacuum cleaners and kettles etc. With no early formal regulation for the size and type of wiring, incidents occurred which brought about the standardisation of wiring and safety for up to 16A supplies.
Appliance manufacturers also cottoned onto the idea that mains power might be available, so three way powered fridges became the norm, and some time later electric powered water heaters, Ovens and space heaters. Air conditioning became possible. Some specialised low power products were produces as it became clear the coincidental use of normal domestic products cold easily overwhelm the limited incoming supplies.
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