He had earned roughly $480 million by the time he was 31.

He cofounded PayPal, which he sold to eBay, and started an online software company that netted him another bundle.

Then he founded the only electric car company producing autos, Tesla Motors, and eco-friendly celebs came running.

Matt Damon, George Clooney, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Leonardo DiCaprio, Will.i.am and 155 lesser-knowns have already accepted delivery of their 0-to-60-mph-in-under-4-seconds Teslas and the company was thought to be on its way to a summertime celebration of profitability.

Well, don’t pop the champagne just yet.

It seems not even Elon Musk is immune from the credit crunch.

Last week, Musk failed in his effort to squeeze $100 million out of some West Coast venture capitalists to help make Tesla, his fourth start-up, profitable.

The VC cash was to be used alongside a hoped-for $250 million low-cost loan from the Obama Administration to reignite the struggling company by helping finance a high-tech car factory in San Jose, Calif., that could make Tesla not just the hobby of a deep-pocketed techie.

It was to have put an end to a tailspin that Musk had found himself in: the badly underestimated expenses that pushed the cost of the Tesla Roadster to about $110,000, the layoffs, the office shutdown and, finally, last December, the embarrassing moment when Musk asked the 1,000 people who have already put down a $50,000 deposit just to get onto the Tesla waiting list for an extra $6,700 each for some much-needed accessories.

It seemed so nickel-and-dime for a genius.

But that was supposed to be the last stumble. The $400 million in federal loans – there is also a second Tesla application in at the Energy Department, for a $150 million loan to hasten the development of a battery-pack plant – was supposed to set the company straight.

Now the cash isn’t coming and Musk is being forced to reach back into his bag of tricks to find some new financing to keep alive his dream of saving planet Earth.

The public fiancial crisis comes as the 37-year-old CEO of Tesla is divorcing the mother of his five kids and has taken up with 23-year-old British actress Talulah Riley.

It wasn’t supposed to be this way for the whiz kid from South Africa who sold his first video game for $500 – when he was 12 years old! – and soon after left home for the US, went on to Wharton Business School and then to Stanford graduate school, where he stayed all of two days.

Musk, who has loved to read since his early school days, was drawn to science and math. He left Stanford to start Zip2.

Now Musk is a man on a mission.

His other companies, SpaceX, a rocketry company which recently landed a lucrative contract with NASA, and Solar City, one of the largest installers of solar panels, are in fighting shape.

But in San Carlos, Calif., where Tesla is based, Musk is starting to feel the pressure.

“Healthy margins make the company more attractive to the next round of investors – whether they’re venture capitalists, shareholders or the federal government in the form of low-interest loans – and thereby help ensure the long-term viability of the company,” a Tesla spokesperson said days before Musk was turned down by the VC community.

The government loans are predicated on the company being able to raise private financing, and with Musk unable to secure his $100 million, it is not know if Tesla will get the Uncle Sam cash.

No low-interest loans may mean no profitability, which may mean the company’s future is not so bright.

His cars are adored by everyone who comes in contact with them. Sleek, sexy and built for speed, the two-seater Roadster can go 255 miles on a single recharge – and can be fully “re-fueled” in just 3 1/2 hours. But it costs $110,000, making its prospective audience limited.

Musk, who has invested $40 million of his own cash and controls about 40 percent of the company, is pushing hard to bring his $60,000, five-seater Model S sedan to market by next year.

That will help increase sales and open up his potential market to many more Americans.

Musk is still sure his cars and rockets and solar panels can help save Americans from themselves.

The question that remains unanswered is if the credit crunch and the unavailability of cash will allow him to see his dream through.