General Motors CEO Mary Barra announced her company will expand production of its Chevrolet Bolt electric car, during a speech plotting GM's path to a zero-emissions future at one of the biggest energy conferences of the year.

Barra's address came on the heels of a day focused on the viability of oil at the annual CERAWeek by IHS Markit conference in Houston, where many energy executives challenged the notion that alternative fuels and electric vehicles will soon displace the internal combustion engine.

On Monday, Saudi Aramco CEO Amin Nasser told CNBC it would take "generations" for a transformation toward electric vehicles in the transportation industry to take place.

"I think it's going to happen more quickly than decades," Barra told CNBC in an interview on the sidelines of the conference.

"As more and more people recognize that we have the right range, understand that we have a charging infrastructure so they don't think you're going to be stranded, I think you're going to see EV adoption continue," the GM CEO said.

GM will increase production of the Chevrolet Bolt later this year at its Orion Assembly plant near Detroit to meet growing demand around the world for the all-electric model, Barra announced on Wednesday.