diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index ac937eb6..dc2bd029 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ This is a major release with significant upgrades under the hood of Cheetah. Des
 
 ### 🚨 Breaking Changes
 
-- Cheetah is now vectorised. This means that you can run multiple simulations in parallel by passing a batch of beams and settings, resulting a number of interfaces being changed. For Cheetah developers this means that you now have to account for an arbitrary-dimensional tensor of most of the properties of you element, rather than a single value, vector or whatever else a property was before. (see #116, #157, #170, #172, #173, #198, #208, #215, #218, #229, #233) (@jank324, @cr-xu, @hespe, @roussel-ryan)
+- Cheetah is now vectorised. This means that you can run multiple simulations in parallel by passing a batch of beams and settings, resulting a number of interfaces being changed. For Cheetah developers this means that you now have to account for an arbitrary-dimensional tensor of most of the properties of you element, rather than a single value, vector or whatever else a property was before. (see #116, #157, #170, #172, #173, #198, #208, #215, #218, #229, #233, #258) (@jank324, @cr-xu, @hespe, @roussel-ryan)
 - The fifth particle coordinate `s` is renamed to `tau`. Now Cheetah uses the canonical variables in phase space $(x,px=\frac{P_x}{p_0},y,py, \tau=c\Delta t, \delta=\Delta E/{p_0 c})$. In addition, the trailing "s" was removed from some beam property names (e.g. `beam.xs` becomes `beam.x`). (see #163) (@cr-xu)
 - `Screen` no longer blocks the beam (by default). To return to old behaviour, set `Screen.is_blocking = True`. (see #208) (@jank324, @roussel-ryan)
 
diff --git a/cheetah/accelerator/segment.py b/cheetah/accelerator/segment.py
index c2aaf65d..d9a19389 100644
--- a/cheetah/accelerator/segment.py
+++ b/cheetah/accelerator/segment.py
@@ -170,7 +170,7 @@ def without_inactive_zero_length_elements(
             elements=[
                 element
                 for element in self.elements
-                if element.length > 0.0
+                if torch.any(element.length > 0.0)
                 or (hasattr(element, "is_active") and element.is_active)
                 or element.name in except_for
             ],
@@ -199,10 +199,11 @@ def inactive_elements_as_drifts(
                 (
                     element
                     if (hasattr(element, "is_active") and element.is_active)
-                    or element.length == 0.0
+                    or torch.all(element.length == 0.0)
                     or element.name in except_for
                     else Drift(
                         element.length,
+                        name=element.name,
                         device=element.length.device,
                         dtype=element.length.dtype,
                     )
diff --git a/tests/test_speed_optimizations.py b/tests/test_speed_optimizations.py
index a6d96edc..56d2663d 100644
--- a/tests/test_speed_optimizations.py
+++ b/tests/test_speed_optimizations.py
@@ -144,6 +144,7 @@ def test_inactive_magnet_is_replaced_by_drift():
     assert all(
         isinstance(element, cheetah.Drift) for element in optimized_segment.elements
     )
+    assert torch.allclose(segment.length, optimized_segment.length)
 
 
 def test_active_elements_not_replaced_by_drift():
@@ -153,7 +154,7 @@ def test_active_elements_not_replaced_by_drift():
     segment = cheetah.Segment(
         elements=[
             cheetah.Drift(length=torch.tensor(0.6)),
-            cheetah.Quadrupole(length=torch.tensor(0.2), k1=torch.tensor(4.2)),
+            cheetah.Quadrupole(length=torch.tensor(0.2), k1=torch.tensor([4.2, 0.0])),
             cheetah.Drift(length=torch.tensor(0.4)),
         ]
     )
@@ -184,6 +185,26 @@ def test_inactive_magnet_drift_replacement_dtype(dtype: torch.dtype):
     assert all(element.length.dtype == dtype for element in optimized_segment.elements)
 
 
+def test_inactive_magnet_drift_except_for():
+    """
+    Test that an inactive magnet is not replaced by a drift when it is included in the
+    list of exceptions.
+    """
+    segment = cheetah.Segment(
+        elements=[
+            cheetah.Drift(length=torch.tensor(0.6)),
+            cheetah.Quadrupole(
+                length=torch.tensor(0.2), k1=torch.tensor(0.0), name="my_quad"
+            ),
+            cheetah.Drift(length=torch.tensor(0.4)),
+        ]
+    )
+
+    optimized_segment = segment.inactive_elements_as_drifts(except_for=["my_quad"])
+
+    assert isinstance(optimized_segment.elements[1], cheetah.Quadrupole)
+
+
 def test_skippable_elements_reset():
     """
     @cr-xu pointed out that the skippable elements are not always reset appropriately
@@ -214,3 +235,30 @@ def test_skippable_elements_reset():
     merged_tm = merged_segment.elements[2].transfer_map(energy=incoming_beam.energy)
 
     assert torch.allclose(original_tm, merged_tm)
+
+
+def test_without_zero_length_elements():
+    """Test that zero-length elements are properly recognized and removed."""
+    segment = cheetah.Segment(
+        elements=[
+            cheetah.Drift(length=torch.tensor(1.0)),
+            cheetah.Dipole(length=torch.tensor(0.0), angle=torch.tensor(0.0)),
+            cheetah.Dipole(
+                length=torch.tensor(0.0), angle=torch.tensor(0.0), name="my_dipole"
+            ),
+            cheetah.Dipole(length=torch.tensor([0.0, 0.1]), angle=torch.tensor(0.0)),
+            cheetah.Drift(length=torch.tensor(0.0)),
+            cheetah.Dipole(length=torch.tensor(0.0), angle=torch.tensor([0.5, 0.0])),
+        ]
+    )
+
+    pruned = segment.without_inactive_zero_length_elements()
+    pruned_except = segment.without_inactive_zero_length_elements(
+        except_for=["my_dipole"]
+    )
+
+    assert len(segment.elements) == 6
+    assert len(pruned.elements) == 3
+    assert len(pruned_except.elements) == 4
+    assert torch.allclose(segment.length, pruned.length)
+    assert torch.allclose(segment.length, pruned_except.length)