Primary energy includes waste heat so it's a pretty useless metric. If 50% of the energy in a coal plant turns into heat then a 1GW coal plant will generate 2GW of primary energy. Is that primary energy useful? It can be if you build district heating but even district heating won't need that much excess energy.

How about cars? Most ICE engines are less than 40% efficient. If you charge an EV with renewables it will consume 2.5 times less primary energy. Renewables look small in primary energy comparisons because they are less wasteful.