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I don't think it's a stupid question.

There's three reasons I can think of.

There is a possibility that some of the mechanical fuel pumps may have problems coping with higher levels of ethanol in petrol. There's thousands working just fine but there are a few stories of problems.

If the bus has been fitted with twin carbs, some of these carbs only tolerate a rather low fuel pressure because the float needle valve is a bit weak. Hence the stock pump needs a pressure regulator to lower the fuel pressure whilst one can buy electric pumps already designed to give low pressure.

If the vehicle spends longer periods (a week or more) unused then one has to crank the engine for a while to get fuel into the carbs. An electric therefore saves this turning the engine over just to fill the carbs.

Many older (not VW) pumps had a hand priming lever that allowed one to manually operate the pump to fill the carbs to overcome this problem and save the battery/starter.

I keep meaning to have a look at one of my spare pumps to see if its possible to rig something similar.