She avoided predictions of how quickly electric vehicles sales would grow, but Barra described a fast-changing auto market where demand for zero-emission and autonomous vehicles was rising.
"We'll have significantly more autonomous vehicles and significantly more electric vehicles," five years from now, she said at the CERAWeek energy conference hosted by IHS Markit. "We are in the midst of a transportation revolution."
Transportation represents more than half of global oil demand. And many within the industry are questioning whether automakers can live up to the hype around electric vehicles.
"The important point here is that EVs are not the silver bullet that everybody is looking for," BP CEO Bob Dudley said Tuesday.
Barra announced GM was increasing production on its Chevy Volt electric vehicle at one of its Detrot plants. She also said GM is also "on track" to release an autonomous electric vehicle next year, for use in ride sharing fleets like those operated by Uber and Lyft, in which GM is an investor.
"We feel a unique responsibility to solve the problem that have come from the freedoms cars allow," Barra said.
