The invention relates to a wind turbine rotor blade having a blade root, a blade tip, two interconnected rotor blade half shells, which include a fiber-reinforced plastics material, and an electrical heating element, which is arranged on an outer side of the rotor blade and has a blade root end and a blade tip end, wherein the blade tip end is connected via an electrical line leading to the blade root and at least a first segment of the electrical line, which is arranged on an inner side of one of the rotor blade half shells, is made of a carbon fiber material. Further, the present invention relates to a method for making a wind turbine rotor blade having an electrical heating element.