With the rapid development of the new energy vehicle (NEV) industry, thermal management technology has emerged as a critical area of research and development. Effective thermal management is essential for addressing key challenges such as winter driven-range anxiety, battery thermal safety, energy saving and F-gas emission reductions. In the context of evolving global energy structures, environmental issues, and refrigerant substitution regulations, the future development of NEV thermal management industry is progressing toward the "new four modernizations": green and efficiency, functional integration, modular structure, and intelligent control. This paper explores these four aspects in detail. First, continuous performance optimization and the adoption of green technologies remain central themes of thermal management with emerging solutions such as thermal storage and CO2-based natural refrigerants expected to play a significant role. Second, more functional requirements, particular the integration of high-power on-board electronics are likely to be addressed through the non-vapor-compression refrigeration technologies. Third, the adoption of secondary-loop systems with modular structures will become the dominant approach to enhance the versatility, making pressure energy recovery technologies within thermodynamic cycle increasingly significant. Finally, the development of intelligent thermal management solutions such as model predictive control (MPC)-based energy hub framework will certainly become an indispensable part of vehicle thermal management system. Based on these considerations, this paper proposes two innovative evaluation factors and highlights the flexible applications of future NEV thermal management systems. The findings aim to provide valuable insights for scholars, practitioners, manufacturers and policymakers working toward the advancement of NEV thermal management technologies.